


The Girl Who Was Born

by 13Queen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8209756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13Queen/pseuds/13Queen
Summary: Adelinde is a very powerful witch. While she tries to hide that power, she can't always control it. She was born for a specific purpose, a purpose she chooses to ignore. Adelinde is out to carve her own path, with Draco by her side. But she first has to walk the one she's on.                     "So wise so young, they say never do live long" -Shakespeare





	1. The Sorting Hat

**Author's Note:**

> I first wrote this on HPFF way back when in 2010, and after reading the Cursed Child have decided to revive and revamp it!

“Severus, are you telling me that,” Minerva’s voice wavered. 

“Yes,” Severus said. “I’m sure of it. The Dark Lord told me himself.”

“Then we must find this girl!” She cried.

“I already have,” he told her calmly. He sat down behind the headmaster’s desk and steepled his fingers together. It was a long and grueling process for him to get back here, after trials and testimonies Severus Snape was declared a war hero and not branded a traitor and allowed to keep his post as Headmaster as per Dumbledore’s wishes. “She was the Dark Lord’s best kept secret. I can count on one hand the people who know of her true identity. Everyone else just believed her to be a prized prodigy.”

“Who else knew?” 

“Narcissa Malfoy was given the task of looking after Marianne, her mother, and when they were older, Draco was her sole companion when she lived at the manor. Bellatrix knows as well. And myself. Lucius may know, if Narcissa was stupid enough to tell him, which I believe she was.”

“How much magic does she know?” He could see Minerva start to make the transition from Order member to teacher and he was grateful for it. 

“Practical magic? I assume not much as she was never allowed her own wand. Dark magic? Enough to single handedly send us into another war,” he answered honestly. Minerva’s eyes widened.

“Will it be safe to have her here?” She asked and he watched all concerns of learning slip from her mind. If he were to answer honestly, probably not. Her power was great and sometimes uncontrollable and she had been born with a specific purpose. Even though she has chosen to ignore that purpose, it does not mean that it will not come to fruition one way or another. 

“Yes.”

“How can you be sure?” She narrowed her eyes at him. 

“I am her legal guardian,” he told her and watched them widen again. “As is Narcissa. We have discussed this at length and decided that the best course of action would be to acclimate her into society under my surname. Keeping her locked up would, without a doubt, end in disaster.”

Minerva’s mouth opened to reply but a knock sounded, cutting her off. 

“Severus?” A melodic voice carried through the door. 

“Come in, Adelinde,” he stood from the desk to greet her. A young girl opened the door, with Draco Malfoy just behind her. Brown curls cascaded down her back and her eyes were an unnerving shade of green. She and Draco were both dressed head to toe in black, nearly the same height too. Draco looked ghostly, paler than normal and his hair not slicked back in it’s usual fashion. His mother’s trial had just passed and she was acquitted of all charges after testimony from none other than Harry Potter. Adelinde’s eyes swept over the room, cataloguing and memorizing everything accordingly. Finally her gaze landed on Minerva.

“You must be Minerva McGonagall,” she said. Minerva eyed her warily. This girl held herself with an authority beyond her years. She never would have guessed her to be school age.

“ _ Professor _ McGonagall,” Snape chided. 

Adelinde smiled, a bright contrast to the cold air that hung around her. “Of course.”

“Hello,” Minerva said. “Mr. Malfoy.”

“Professors,” Draco greeted both of them. 

“Adelinde, as you know we must sort you into a house and I thought it would be best to do it now rather than with the first years,” Severus said. 

“Yes, thank you,” Adelinde said, perfectly polite. She sat in the chair across the desk from him and Draco moved to stand behind her. Severus reached up and pulled the sorting hat down from it’s perch. The sorting hat woke and hummed a tune. Adelinde cut it off. “If you please, I’m in quite a rush, could we skip the song?” 

“Yes, yes, very well,” it grumbled just before Severus handed it to Minerva to place on her head. “Hmmmmm.” There was a pregnant pause in which the sorting hat said nothing which was very unusual.

“Adelinde, it won’t work if you don’t let it into your mind,” Severus drawled, realizing what was going on. He had taught the girl occlumency himself, after she had learned legilimency elsewhere. She was extremely gifted at both. 

She smirked and settled further into the chair, feeling Draco’s fingers where they gripped the back of it. “Wanted to know if I could.” 

“Of course you can,” Draco scoffed. Her smile grew and she felt the sorting hat begin to probe around in her head. Then it rasped out;

“I should inform you that despite your past, you have the brave heart of a Gryffindor. But your cunning, resourcefulness, and determination outweigh that. You are a powerful witch, I could sense that even before I was pulled off the shelf. However, you know not yet how to harness it all. This year will be good for you, a year spent in SLYTHERIN!”

Adelinde remained still, she wasn’t shocked, she knew she would be in Slytherin.

“As expected,” Severus drawled as Minerva plucked the hat off her head. 

“Will that be all, Severus?” She asked.

“Somewhere to be?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Diagon Alley,” she answered and couldn’t seem to contain a genuine smile. Severus’ own mouth twitched upward. 

“You may go,” he said. “Take the fireplace.” 

Adelinde shot to her feet and it seemed to rattle the entire room. She took a handful of floo powder from the jaw on the mantle and threw it in the fire. It blazed nearly the same color as her eyes as she said, very clearly, “Malfoy Manor.”

She strode out of the ornate fireplace in the library of the manor, the only one connected to the floo network. She stepped aside just as Draco came through after her. It was empty, they had both been expecting Narcissa to be waiting for them.

“Mimsy?” Adelinde called. A house elf appeared before them with wobbly ears and shining eyes. 

“Yes, Young Lady?” she bowed before both of them. “How can Mimsy be of service?”

“Do you know where Cissy is?” Adelinde asked her. 

“Mistress is in the kitchens, Young Lady,” she answered. 

“Thank you, Mimsy,” Adelinde dismissed her. She curtsied and then was gone. She and Draco both made for the kitchen in the dimly lit hallway. They walked so closely together that the backs of their hands brushed. Through the doorless threshold they could see Narcissa sitting at the island countertop nursing a cup of tea. “Guess who’s in Slytherin!”

Narcissa spun on the stool she was sitting on and beamed at her adoptive daughter. “Of course you are!” Adelinde kissed her on the cheek and took the stool next to hers. Draco kissed her on the cheek next and moved over to the still hot kettle to pour a cup for himself and Adelinde. “How did it go?”

“Adelinde tried to use occlumency on the sorting hat,” Draco told her. 

“Did it work?”

“Yes,” Adelinde grinned. 

“Good girl,” Narcissa patted her hand then reached for a sealed envelope that rested on the countertop. “Word came of your father’s trial date just before you returned.” Draco looked at it as though it was a howler and silently refused to touch it. Narcissa removed her hand as well without picking it up. Adelinde looked between them for a moment before snatching up the envelope herself and tearing it open. She spared them the full body and read them only the important bits.

“October 1st,” was all she said. 

“That’s not for two months!” Draco shouted. Narcissa flinched. “He has to rot away in that hellhole for two more months?”

“It’s not so much a hellhole as a regular hole now,” Adelinde pointed out. “The dementors no longer guard it.” She pulled out the second sheet of paper. “There’s a letter in here from him as well.” She handed that over to Narcissa to read for herself. 

“He sends his love,” she told Draco after she had read it through twice. She didn’t offer the letter to him and he didn’t ask for it. 

“Cissy, won’t you come to Diagon Alley with us?” Adelinde pleaded. 

“You two are very capable,” she said. “You can manage without me.”

“We could manage,” Adelinde agreed. “But I want you there so you can tell the story of my getting my wand like you tell Draco’s.” He rolled his eyes at that and Narcissa smiled. 

“Ran straight into the door he was so excited,” she recounted. 

“Mum,” he whined. “Are you really going to tell it again? Adelinde’s heard it a thousand times.” 

“I think a thousand and one will do it,” Adelinde said, and grinned at his scowl. Narissa recounted how eleven year old Draco had waltzed into Ollivander’s and demanded an elm wand, eighteen inches long, with a dragon heartstring core. When Mr. Ollivander reminded him that the wand chooses the wizard not the the other way around Draco insisted that that wand had chosen him in a dream he had the previous night. Of course, Mr. Ollivander knew that the wand he described already belonged to his father but he let the boy ramble on until he was sure he had convinced Ollivander to give him the wand he wanted. Instead Ollivander offered him a wand made of yew to try. Scowling, little Draco picked it up and gave it a whirl and ended up hoisting himself into the air and dropping back down to the floor of the wand shop. 

“He nearly cried,” Narcissa said. Draco rolled his eyes but didn’t protest. “We went through four wands before we found his. Now, if I’m not mistaken, he wouldn’t have any other.”

“Shall we go?” Draco deflected. “Mother, are you coming?” She looked at Adelinde who smiled hopefully, then sighed. 

“If I must.”

Narcissa apparated first after they agreed on meeting in front of Madam Malkin’s to get Adelinde fitted for her school robes. After she was gone Adelinde took the arm Draco offered to her, tucking her hand into his elbow. He handed her his wand without looking at her. 

“Are you alright?” She asked quietly. 

“I told you I didn’t want to go back,” he replied, just as quietly.

“And I told you, you didn’t have to,” she reminded him. 

“I wasn’t going to let you go alone,” he said. Adelinde didn’t know what to say. She wanted to find the words that would make him feel better, that would restore his confidence. But she’d been searching for them for months. His trial was the very first held after the war and again, with testimony from Harry Potter, he was acquitted. But it didn’t matter, people still talked,  _ Draco Malfoy let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy would have killed Albus Dumbledore. Lord Voldemort hugged Draco Malfoy _ . 

“Thank you,” she said. His answering smile was fleeting but it was still there. She apparated them to Madam Malkin’s seeing as Draco had been too preoccupied to take his test, or even learn. Adelinde offered to teach him but he said he preferred flying. 

“Took you two long enough,” Narcissa said, emerging from the shop. “Come in then, I already gave the Madam your measurements, you just need to try them on.”

Draco and Narcissa dragged Adelinde to get their books and other school supplies before they passed Ollivander’s Wand Shop. Draco and Narcissa both made to keep walking but Adelinde caught Draco’s hand and pulled him to a halt. 

“Where are you going?” She asked. Draco glanced nervously at the shop front. 

“There are plenty of other wand shops, Dear,” Narcissa said. Adelinde looked between the two of them and remembered that Garrick Ollivander had been held captive and tortured in the cellar below the Manor. She understood their trepidation but she wasn’t having it. They had both been cleared by the Wizenmagot and it was clear to anyone with a working brain that they lived in just as much fear, if not more, as everyone else. They never laid a hand on Ollivander. It happened in their home not by choice but because they’d land themselves in the same position if they had refused. Adelinde was fully prepared to explain that at length to anyone who had something negative to say about the Malfoys. 

“This one will do,” she said and let go of Draco’s hand, striding toward the shop. 

“Adelinde!” He called after her but she didn’t pause or turn around. The door opened just before she reached it, a pair of first years running out with their wands in hand followed by their mothers. Adelinde smiled pleasantly at one of the witches as she held the door open for her. 

The door shut behind her. There was no one else in the shop and Mr. Ollivander must have disappeared somewhere in the back. The windows were enchanted so only the barest amount of sunlight filtered through. Adelinde spun in a slow circle, looking first at the single bulb chandelier that bathed the topmost shelves in a pale yellow light and down over all the haphazardly stacked boxes of wands. One of which, would shortly become Adelinde’s. 

The door opened again and the bell chimed. Adelinde looked over her shoulder and saw a very disgruntled Draco had entered the shop and he held the door open for his mother. The noise drew Ollivander back out onto the main floor. He emerged from a door hidden between two shelves on the second floor and peered over the balcony. His gaze skittered over the Malfoys and landed on Adelinde. 

“What can I do for you?”

“A wand, if you please Mr. Ollivander,” she answered. 

“Of course, Dear, of course,” he said, descending the steps. “And you are?”

“Adelinde Snape,” she answered clearly. He hit the next step just a little bit harder but otherwise didn’t react to her name. He reached the counter and picked up a tape measure. “Your wand arm, if you don’t mind Miss Snape.” 

Adelinde held out her right hand and waited perfectly still while the tape took all of her measurements and Ollivander muttered to himself, pulling down various boxes. He waved his own wand and the previous discards retook their place on the shelves and he set four new boxes down. 

“Here, here, twelve inches, mahogany - ” Adelinde had barely wrapped her fingers around it before he snatched it away. “No, no, no. Try this one, fourteen inches, english oak - ”

“It’s too heavy,” Adelinde said. Ollivander looked at her curiously. Adelinde had handled a lot of wands and she had a feel for what she liked. Unfortunately, she could not tell Ollivander that the best wand she had ever used was made of yew, thirteen and a half inches long, with a phoenix feather core. Then she’d have to answer the uncomfortable question of how she had the opportunity to use that particular wand. 

The next two wands weren’t quite right either. “Hm, I could do with a good challenge,” Ollivander said. “We’ll find you a wand Miss Snape don’t you worry.” Adelinde took a step back from the counter and craned her neck, bumping into Draco accidentally. He steadied her with a hand on her elbow. 

_ Accio my wand _ . 

Wandless magic was hard, but Adelinde had always had a knack for it given that she’d never really had a wand. She used it sparingly as it took a lot of her energy and she didn’t want to alert anyone to her ability lest they try to use her. She had already been used enough. 

Something wiggled and jiggled and dislodged something heavy enough to crash into the floor out of sight. She wasn’t entirely sure it would work given that she didn’t actually know what her wand was but figured it was worth a shot. Ollivander looked back at her, frowning. He marched back to a door that led to the back of the small building and as soon as he did and box came flying out of the room and straight into Adelinde’s chest. She caught it there with both hands and stared down at it. 

The box looked different than any other Adelinde could see in the shop. It was ceramic, completely smooth and white as snow. It was cool to the touch and didn’t seem to absorb any of the heat from her hands. It was thin but was wide enough to look like it could contain five wands, not just one. 

“This wand,” Ollivander began gravely. “Was made by my great-great-great grandfather. He made very few wands and he made them very particularly.” Adelinde stepped forward to place it on the table and Ollivander tapped the top of it with his wand. The lid unsealed itself and came off with a satisfying suction sound. “This, is a yew wand, thirteen inches long, with a basilisk horn core. The only other wizard to have a wand with this core was - ”

“Salazar Slytherin,” Adelinde answered as she dug her fingers into the purple velvet to retrieve the wand. This was it. This was hers. A pale ivory color inlaid with what looked to be a circlet of real gold in the handle. Her fingertips grew warm and the wand hummed it’s own approval, vibrating up her arm. 

“You do know your wands,” he commended. 

“I read a lot,” she told him. It was one of the view things she was allowed to do. She held her wand tighter and she felt their bond seal. She couldn’t help the smile that broke out over her face as she turned to look at Draco and Narcissa. Draco beamed back at her and Narcissa looked amazed. She spun back around to face Ollivander. “Thank you.”

“You are very welcome,” he said. They paid him and Narcissa stowed the box in the bag she brought along. Adelinde didn’t put her wand away. She held it up against the dying dusk light.

“You couldn’t settle for an ordinary wand, could you?” Draco teased. 

“Adelinde is anything but ordinary,” Narcissa reminded them both. “You were right, that will be quite the story to tell. I don’t think anyone else has summoned their own wand to them before.” 

Adelinde grinned sheepishly. “Caught that, did you?”

“You weren’t very subtle, Darling,” she laughed. “I don’t think it would have occurred to Ollivander that you used wandless magic while buying a wand. But we know you and what you’re capable of.” 

“Let’s see it then,” Draco held his hand out. Adelinde looked at it. He huffed out an incredulous laugh. “I’ve shared my wand with you all these years and you won’t even let me hold yours?”

“It’s new!” She cried. “I’ve barely held it!”

“That didn’t stop you from snatching mine up the moment I got home and summoning eight snakes in the parlor!” Adelinde groaned and he laughed. She had forgotten about that. She handed it over. 

“I think I’ll retire for the day,” Narcissa said. “I’ll take your things back with me. Don’t stay out too late.” 

“We won’t be far behind you,” Adelinde assured her and kissed her on the cheek. Draco did the same and she disapparated. She watched Draco study her wand, running his long fingers over it, searching for blemishes. There weren’t any. It was perfectly smooth. 

“Basilisk horn core,” he muttered. “You’re ridiculous sometimes.”

“If you mean ridiculously good at everything then I think you meant all the time,” she quipped.

“You’re right,” he said, handing the wand back. She pocketed it. “You’re ridiculous all the time.” 

She scowled at him and he grinned back. “Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, then?” His smile fell. 

“What do you need from there?” He asked.

“A laugh.”

“I’m a laugh!” But it was too late, Adelinde had already set off down the lane toward the brightly lit shop. Draco caught the door as it swung shut behind her and gently pushed her all the way inside. All the bright colors and loud snaps and explosions and whirring objects were almost overwhelming. It was near closing so it wasn’t as full as Adelinde had seen it throughout the day. 

She instantly gravitated over to a canary cage that held the pygmy puffs. She stuck her finger inside through the bars and they clamored around it. Behind her, Draco sighed. 

“Which one do you want?”

“I want the pink one,” she said. 

“Half of them are pink,” he pointed out. “I’ll find someone to open the cage.” 

“No need, I’m right here,” Fred Weasley said with a rather forced smile. He’d been watching them. He pulled a bobby pin out of the pocket of his robes and picked the lock open.

“You don’t have a key?” Adelinde asked. Not to mention  _ Alohamora  _ would have done the trick.

“Like to keep my skills sharp,” he told her as he reached into the cage and pulled out a pink pygmy puff for her. Loud laughter drowned out any reply Adelinde might have had. 

“Thanks George,” a voice said. Draco stiffened. “Well, Fred, we’re off - ” Harry Potter trialed off when he caught sight of Draco Malfoy. They stared at one another for a moment and Adelinde took that time to notice that Harry was with Ron and George, a bag with three ‘W’s emblazoned on it in his hand. For an awkward moment, no one spoke, no one seemed to know what was appropriate to say. Adelinde thought a simple ‘hello’ would suffice. 

“Hello,” she said and all eyes snapped to her. “I’m Adelinde. We haven’t officially met.” She held her hand out and Harry shook it. 

“I’ve seen you, at the Ministry,” he said. 

“ _ You’re _ the new Lady Malfoy,” Ron exclaimed as though he had just remembered something that had been nagging at him. Adelinde heard the echo of the Daily Prophet title that had been published the day after Narcissa’s trial. The front page had a large picture of Adelinde leading Draco out of the Ministry, hand in hand, with large black letters over it  **THE NEW LADY MALFOY?** Adelinde had accidentally incinerated their copy. She’d been so angry that the papers had chosen to focus on her instead of the fact that Narcissa was a  _ war hero _ . 

“It’s Snape, actually,” she said loftily and watched their shocked expressions. 

“You married Snape?” Ron shouted. George hit him in the gut and he exhaled roughly.

“I’m his daughter,” she said, with a raised eyebrow and deliberately leaving out the god. 

“I didn’t know Snape had a daughter,” Harry said. 

“There are a lot of things you don’t know,” she said. “One memory isn’t enough.”

He looked surprised that Severus had shared that with her. The others looked at each other, trying to figure out exactly what the exchange meant. Harry glanced at Draco and nodded at him. 

“We have to get going,” he said, mostly to Fred and George but his eyes were still on Adelinde. 

“Right, thanks for stopping by Harry,” Fred said, finally handing the pygmy puff over to Adelinde. 

“Yeah, we’re happy to have you anytime,” George said, then added, “Ron, you owe me for the aviatomobile still.”

“Honestly,” Ron said, digging through his pockets. He dropped the coins into George’s hand. “I’m your brother.” 

“We don’t stay in business by giving stuff away, little brother,” Fred told him. Draco paid him for the pygmy puff and they walked out awkwardly with Harry and Ron. It was dark out now and they loitered in front of the shop for a moment in an uncomfortable silence. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you both,” Adelinde said. 

“See you around,” Harry said. He and Ron disapparated separately. Adelinde kept her eyes on the spot where they had disappeared. 

“Breathe, Draco,” she said. He exhaled and she made a motion for him to do it again. 

“They’ve already started Auror training, you know,” he said eventually. “They’re not going back to Hogwarts.” 

“I know,” she said. She wrapped her arm through his and pulled out her new wand. She waved it in front of him excitedly then apparated them both back to Malfoy Manor. 


	2. Welcome Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t believe we’ve met,” she shoved her hand at Adelinde. “I’m Hermione Granger.”
> 
> “Adelinde Snape,” she answered with a pleasant smile that didn’t falter at Hermione’s shocked expression. 
> 
> “I’m sure I must have misheard you,” she said, still shaking Adelinde’s hand. Adelinde’s smile grew. “Did you just say Snape? As in - ”
> 
> “As in Severus Snape, yes,” she said.

“Goodbye, Mother,” Draco said, exasperated. They had loaded their trunks onto the train nearly twenty minutes ago and Narcissa hadn’t stopped fretting about letting them go. He caught Adelinde’s eye and she giggled quietly.

“You two behave,” she said sternly. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye Cissy,” Adelinde hugged her as the last boarding call rang out. Then she turned and led Draco onto the train.

It was positively buzzing, students were running up and down the halls and detonating Weasley Wizard Wheezes. There were puffs of smoke and sparks and laughter. Adelinde breathed in deeply as if she could inhale happiness.

“All the compartments will be full by now,” Draco muttered behind her.

“I think it’d be fun to try and sit with a bunch of first years,” she said with a grin he couldn’t see.

“Technically, you _are_ a first year,” he pointed out. She went to elbow him but he deftly moved out of the way, laughing. He pointed to their right, down the hall. “Let’s try that way.” Draco was right, most compartments were already filled to the brim and by the time they had made it halfway down the train people were whispering all about the new girl with Draco Malfoy.

Someone backed out of a compartment quickly as the train started to move, colliding with Adelinde. Draco reached out and caught her before she fell but the other person went sprawling. “Oh!” Adelinde cried. She reached down to help him up. “Sorry!”

“No, no,” Neville Longbottom said. “It’s my fault.” He brushed himself off then got his first good look at Adelinde. His cheeks went pink and he stared blatantly before averting his gaze to his shoes then back into the compartment he had stumbled out of.

“I didn’t know you were coming back to Hogwarts, Draco,” Luna Lovegood said with her head cocked to the side. She was holding a copy of _The Quibbler_ upside down and sat next to Ginny Weasley who was frowning and looking at Draco’s hand on her arm. He let her go quickly. “Who are you?”

“I’m Adelinde,” she introduced herself.

“Nice to meet you, Adelinde,” she said pleasantly. “I’m Luna.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Luna,” she said.

“No loitering in the halls please!” They all turned to find Hermione Granger, already changed into her school robes with her Head Girl badge pinned to them.

“Hullo Hermione,” said Neville.

“Hi Neville,” she smiled. “I’ll be to the compartment as soon as I’m finished with rounds.”

“Congratulations on Head Girl, by the way!” He exclaimed. She beamed and thanked him.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” she shoved her hand at Adelinde. “I’m Hermione Granger.”

“Adelinde Snape,” she answered with a pleasant smile that didn’t falter at Hermione’s shocked expression.

“I’m sure I must have misheard you,” she said, still shaking Adelinde’s hand. Adelinde’s smile grew. “Did you just say Snape? As in - ”

“As in Severus Snape, yes,” she said.

“I didn’t know Professor Snape had a daughter,” Luna said.

“Not many people do,” Adelinde said with a hint of smugness.

“Harry said he met Snape’s daughter,” Ginny said. “I thought he must have, well, misheard.”

“Draco!” Blaise Zabini called from just a little ways down the hall. He stood leaning out of a compartment. “Merlin’s beard, Adelinde is that you?”

“Hullo Blaise!” She cried cheerily, bouncing past the others and calling over her shoulder, “It was nice to meet you all!”

“I haven’t seen you since we were, what, twelve? Thirteen?” Blaise said as he hugged Adelinde. He was much taller than her, taller than Draco even, and the top of her head only came to his chin. Adelinde remembered those days, before she was aware of her purpose, when she was just a child. She hadn’t been allowed a wand or to go to Hogwarts, but the Malfoys had passed her off as some distant cousin and she was allowed to play with Draco and his friends. When rumors of Voldemort’s return began to run rampant, Severus and Narcissa kept a closer eye on her and she was no longer allowed to associate with those outside of the family.

“Blaise,” Draco hesitated for a moment then Blaise was pulling him into a hug with Adelinde sandwiched between them. She cried out indignantly as she was crushed against Blaise’s chest while Draco huffed a laugh and patted his friend on the back.

“Didn’t know if you were coming back this year,” Blaise said as he pulled away.

“I didn’t know about you either,” he said.

“Oh, did you not get my owls? Or did you just not open them?” Blaise asked, teasing.

“It was a busy summer,” he said as they fully entered the compartment. “Oh, hi Daphne.”

“Good to see you Draco,” she smiled pleasantly. She was the only other person in the compartment, sitting with her legs crossed and beautiful blonde hair tucked neatly over one shoulder. Her eyes looked Adelinde up and down, appraising her. She seemed impressed. Adelinde wasn’t surprised. She was impressive.

“Daphne this is Adelinde Snape,” he introduced them. “Adelinde, this is Daphne Greengrass.”

“Snape?” Blaise echoed and Daphne’s eyebrows rose. “Last I checked you were a Malfoy.”

“The Malfoy’s sort of adopted me,” Adelinde told him. Not a lie. “Severus officially did.” Also not a lie.

“Severus?” Blaise mimicked her. “You’re on a first name basis with professors now?”

“I’m on a first name basis with my Godfather, yes,” she laughed and sat down next to Draco, across from Astoria and Blaise. She sat closest to the window and watched the countryside roll by in a blur of green pastures and cloudless blue skies.

“Is anyone else coming back?” Draco asked, changing the subject.

“I think we’re it,” Blaise said. “Oh, Theo’s back as well. He’s just doing rounds right now.”

“Rounds?” Draco echoed. “For what?”

“Theo’s been made Head Boy,” Daphne told them.

“I see you didn’t get his owls either,” Blaise grinned. “I’ll just start addressing them to Adelinde, shall I?”

“That would probably be best,” Adelinde agreed. “And exciting. No one ever sends me owls.”

“No one? Draco, why don’t you ever send her owls?” Blaise asked. Daphne snickered at the offended look on his face.

“She lives with me! Why would I send her owls when she’s right down the hall?” He cried. Adelinde patted his knee.

“He used to send me owls,” she said in his defense. “When you were all at school without me.”

“Where did you go to school before this?” Daphne asked, not unkindly.

“I was homeschooled,” she answered. She wasn’t sure if it counted as a lie. It shouldn’t, she was taught Dark Magic by Death Eaters, but she was still learning. They fell into friendly conversation after that and Adelinde was all but bouncing out of her seat, leaning so close to the window that her breath fogged up the glass.

She had been to Hogwarts before, to get sorted and once before that in the dead of night. She didn’t see much either time and even if she did it wouldn’t be the same as it will be filled with _life_. Brimming with students, moving staircases, quidditch. She’d get to experience all of it, as a normal student.

Theo didn’t return until after they’d changed into their school robes. He burst into the compartment just as the boys were getting settled again.

“Guess who - _Adelinde_?” He pulled her up so that she was standing to properly hug her. “You go to Hogwarts now?”

“No,” she answered cheekily. “Just fancied a train ride.”

“Well this is much more exciting than what I was going to say,” he said, sitting down across from her. Adelinde sat back down and brushed shoulders with Draco. She looked at the seat behind her to make sure she hadn’t missed but no, Draco had moved closer.

“What were you going to say?” Adelinde asked.

“I was going to ask Blaise to guess who I saw at the other end of the train,” he turned to look suggestively at his friend. Blaise stiffened.

“Pray tell, Nott, who it was,” he said drily.

“Tracey Davis,” he answered and watched Blaise struggle not to react to the name.

“Tracey’s back?” Daphne asked with raised eyebrows. “Who is she with?”

“Some sixth years,” Theo waived his hand airily. “What brings you to school this year, Adelinde?”

“Sights to see, magic to learn,” she said noncommittally.

“Her father is the headmaster,” Blaise added. Theo whipped his head back around to look at her.

“Snape is your father?” He repeated. Adelinde nearly grimaced and the only person to seem to catch it was Draco when he muffled a laugh behind his hand.

“How often do you think you’re going to have to answer that question?” He asked her.

“How many students go here?” She asked and he laughed again.

They arrived at the station in Hogsmeade and the five Slytherins vacated their compartment. A pair of second years flattened themselves back against the wall as they passed. Theo disappeared for more Head Boy duties and that left Adelinde, Draco, Blaise, and Daphne to a carriage. Draco led them off the platform and through the throng of students scrambling to find where they were meant to go. Rubeus Hagrid’s booming voice directed the first years and Adelinde distantly heard Theo directing third years.

At the edge of the forest the carriages waited. Draco came to a sudden halt and Adelinde braced her hands on his waist to keep from running into him. She followed his gaze to the thestrals grazing just in front of the carriage they were to take.

“It’s alright,” she murmured to him.

“You see them too, then?” Blaise asked. Adelinde looked over at him and he was eyeing the creatures just as warily as Draco. Just past him a dozen of other students were staring as well, either because they didn’t know thestrals pulled the carriages at all, or because they were reeling over the fact that so many of them could see them for the first time, she didn’t know. She waited for someone to step forward and just get into a carriage but no one moved.

There was a somber moment of silence as they all exchanged understanding glances. They had all witnessed death firsthand on these very grounds. There was no going back to how things were. But things would be all right now, Adelinde would show them.

“They’re perfectly gentle,” she said and moved past Draco. He reached a hand out as if to grab her but she slipped away easily, approaching the tall thestral slowly as not to startle it. When she did she ran a hand along its short neck and it nuzzled into her hair. Its long legs made it stand taller than Adelinde but its torso was short, made only for one rider. It flexed its wings, just a bit, revealing spindly translucent wings and it let out a content cry, low and musical. Adelinde looked away from the stunning creature and spotted Luna looking at her with a dreamy smile on her face, then she climbed into the carriage after Ginny. Adelinde gestured to her friends, “Come on, then.”

Draco took a determined step forward, regaining his cool and confident posture and opening the carriage door. The others followed shortly after and all the while Adelinde kept a hand on the thestral to reassure them before climbing in last.

Even after their slight delay they were still a few of the first to arrive. Adelinde scrambled to get out, nearly falling down the steps out of the carriage. One of the thestrals made a low noise and nosed her between her shoulder blades. She turned around with a smile and pet it one last time before going inside.

The Entrance Hall was grand but rather empty save for the empty house hourglasses and Adelinde tried not to run through the grand double doors that led to the Great Hall. Only a few students were already seated and no teachers were at the head table yet. She craned her neck to see the seemingly topless ceiling that mimicked the night sky that had just fallen with floating candles. She stared until Draco pulled her toward the Slytherin table.

It didn’t take long for the other students to file in, Theo joined them at the last moment after everyone else was already seated, or the teachers to appear from the lounge behind their table. When Severus swept in his eyes immediately scanned the Slytherin table and when he found Adelinde, he nodded at her. She raised her chin in return. He took his seat at the Headmaster’s chair and then the first years were being led into the Great Hall by Professor McGonagall.

The Sorting Hat was waiting for them on a stool in front of everyone. With a wave of her wand, McGonagall woke the hat and it began to sing.

 

_Peace has fallen in Hogwart’s halls_

_There are children to be sorted_

_After The Dark Lord’s fall_

 

_The houses are different this year_

_And yet the same_

_Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff_

_Are all at the end of the day, all just names_

 

_During the war, in the midst of the fighting_

_You could find a courageous Slytherin_

_Or an intelligent Gryffindor sighting_

  
  


_Hufflepuffs are loyal and also cunning_

_Ravenclaws are witty_

_But they are dedicated too_

_To judge one by their house would be a great pity_

 

_Your house does not define you_

_It’s merely where you’ll best succeed_

_With like minded peers_

_For the next seven years_

 

Scattered applause went up but most people just exchanged wary glances. Then the sorting began. Adelinde immediately noticed that the first Slytherin student, the second overall to be sorted, was met with few cheers and quite a few boos. The boos were quieted with a piercing look from the headmaster, but they had been heard. Adelinde slipped her wand out of her sock and waved it underneath the table, silently casting a sonorous charm over the entire table.

The next first year to be sorted into their house was met with thunderous applause that was so loud it even startled the Slytherins. She may have been a bit generous. She smiled at the table as the first year excitedly sat down at the table. She felt Severus’ eyes on her but she didn’t look up.

After the sorting was finished, Severus stepped up to the podium and silence fell immediately.

“Welcome, welcome,” he drawled. “As the Sorting Hat said, this year will be a little different, house wise. Aside from dormitories, quidditch, and the friendly competition of house points, there will be no segregation. Your classmates will be from all four houses, and after tonight’s feast the tables in the great hall will not be assigned by house. Students may sit wherever and with whomever they please and all students may access any common room as long as they are accompanied by a student of that house. This is to encourage interhouse unity in the school and among the community.

“I’d like to welcome back Remus Lupin, as our defense against the dark arts teacher - ” he was cut off by screeches of delight from all four tables. Lupin waved shyly from the teachers table. Adelinde strained to get a better look at him. She’d been near werewolves before, of course, but Fenrir wasn’t very friendly.

“Isn’t he still - a werewolf?” Daphne asked warily.

“Sev - Professor Snape lobbied to have him back as a professor, volunteering to oversee his condition personally by brewing a wolfsbane potion every full moon for him so he wouldn’t be a danger to students,” Adelinde told her. “After all of the work he did for the Order during the war the board would look like monsters if they said no.” She also knew it was Severus apologizing for outing him in the first place.

“Eat,” he said when it became clear that they weren’t going to quiet down. Lupin turned a bright shade of pink. Food appeared on the tables and Adelinde and Draco reached for the mashed potatoes at the same time. He went to swat her hand away but she stomped on his foot before he got there and snatched it up. Then to prove a point, shoveled the entire dish onto her plate.

“You two do know it’s bottomless?” Blaise asked. As he said it a new dish appeared but Blaise grabbed it before Draco could.

“But isn’t it so much fun to deny him?” Adelinde grinned at Blaise.

“Oh yes,” Theo agreed, picking up the third dish to appear. Draco scowled at all of them. He pointed a finger at Daphne.

“Don’t you dare,” he said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Daphne said with a coy grin. But when the next dish appeared on the table, it was a newly sorted first year who had been bold enough to sit next to Daphne who picked it up, looking torn between cheeky and terrified. Draco’s borderline murderous look dropped into one of pure shock and Adelinde laughed, once and very loudly, before clapping a hand over her mouth. Theo high fived the first year and Draco sent Adelinde a funny look when she couldn’t seem to stop laughing.


	3. Dreams and Duels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “NEWT level Potions, DADA, Charms, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures,” he sent her a vaguely disdainful look but he knew how much Adelinde loved her fantastic beasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this update I'm going to try and update once a week!

Adelinde always knew when she was dreaming. Everything was bathed in a pale green glow and nothing she said or did would change anything that happened. Because Adelinde’s dreams were hardly ever just dreams. They were visions. She’d seen her father coming back, she’d seen Severus killing Albus Dumbledore. She’d seen Nagini attack Severus. That was the only one Adelinde had ever ventured to stop. Every other time, she deemed the risk to herself and to her timeline too great. Even the vision where she watched her father drop dead. 

After that they had stopped all together. She hadn’t missed them but she didn’t trust that they were gone for good either. She was right. Her first night at Hogwarts she woke up, breathing heavily and her jaw aching from grinding her teeth. She looked around her empty room. Severus had gotten her, her own for this very reason. She didn’t scream but while she was unconscious her magic lashed out. Her full length mirror on the back of her door had shattered, the shards were scattered all the way to the trunk at the foot of her bed. 

She felt under her pillow for her wand and wrapped her fingers around it. It was reassuring to know that she finally had one. To have and to hold and to prove she was a witch and not just a weapon. She couldn’t remember the dream. She never could at first, it would come to her later. So she did the only thing she could do, she got up and got ready for school.

Downstairs, Draco was waiting for her in the common room underneath the crystal chandelier at the bottom of the stairs. He stood with his hands in his pockets looking out through one of the floor to ceiling windows that looked into the Great Lake. The water was a slightly murky green that matched the interior of their common room and when creatures swam close enough, they could see the students and the students could see them. Some of the younger merfolk liked to come and play games.

“Where is everyone?” She asked. He looked up at her.

“It’s still early,” he said, then grinned. “Blaise threw his pillow at me when I made too much noise. Excited?”

She wanted to be excited. She had been ever since she’d sat down with Severus and Narcissa and they deemed it safe for her to go to school. For the first time in her life she was allowed out of a safe house. But the knowledge that her dream would slam into her at any moment loomed over her. Her shoulders were tense and Draco noticed. 

“What’s wrong?” His grin fell. 

“I had a dream,” she told him.  He looked at her warily. Adelinde spared Draco most of her dreams, it would be pointless to tell him. Neither of them could change it and it wouldn’t do to have both of them worrying about it. But he knew how they worked. He didn’t ask what it was about because he knew she didn’t remember yet. He didn’t seem to have a reply at all and that was okay, Adelinde didn’t expect one. 

They walked side by side through the halls to breakfast. Out of habit, Draco went straight to the Slytherin table but Adelinde caught his hand and pulled him to the Hufflepuff table, just one over and in the middle. He looked reluctant and trailed slightly behind her but didn’t outright protest. The few students that were already in the Great Hall were mostly seated at their own tables, having either gone there out of habit or out of fear of being rejected. 

“Good morning,” Adelinde smiled as she sat down across from a few sixth year Hufflepuffs. They didn’t pay her much mind but rather openly stared at a scowling Draco as he sat down next to her. Someone from down the table called out one of their names and the Hufflepuffs scurried down to sit with them. Adelinde smiled, amused, before reaching for some juice. “Apparently, we’re quite terrifying.” 

“I could have told you that,” he said as he spooned some eggs onto his plate. He shot her a sideways look. “Without reading minds.”

She shrugged. “Sometimes it just happens.”

“You’re Snape’s secret daughter,” he said. “And I’m the youngest Death Eater officially inducted into the inner circle since the first wizarding war.”

“You’re not a Death Eater anymore,” she pointed out. He swallowed his reply when Luna Lovegood sat across from them. “Hi Luna!”

“Good morning, Adelinde,” she said cheerily. “Draco.” She pulled out today’s edition of  _ The Quibbler  _ and laid it open on the table next to her plate. “Have you heard about the recent surge of Thestral reproduction?”

“Yes,” Adelinde replied. “I think it’s something to do with the war. There more people that can see them, the more there is to see. Wasn’t there another surge just after the first war?” 

“There was,” Luna confirmed. Draco looked at Adelinde as if she had suddenly sprouted wings. “I think I agree with you, Adelinde.” 

“Do you happen to have a spare copy?” Adelinde asked, gesturing to the moving magazine.

“I do!” Luna cried happily and fished it out of her bag. She passed it over to Adelinde and Draco opened his mouth to no doubt say something unnecessary so Adelinde stepped on his foot underneath the table. He took the unsubtle hint and continued to eat quietly. They were mostly quiet, save for Luna and Adelinde commenting on articles every so often, until Daphne slid into the seat next to Adelinde and leaned over to talk to her in a low voice. 

“Hope you wore underwear today,” she said. Draco nearly choked on his bacon before shooting Daphne an incredulous look. She ignored him. “I overheard those Gryffindor boys talking about sending a breeze to lift your skirt at first opportunity.” 

Draco moved as if to get up but Adelinde caught his shoulder and pulled him back down. She followed Daphne’s gaze over to a group of four boys huddled together, clearly planning mischief. 

“Sixth years haven’t learned wordless magic yet, have they?” She asked.

“No, they learn this year,” Daphne answered. Adelinde nodded and kept eating her breakfast. Draco waited a moment longer to see if she was going to do anything before he tried to get up again. She pulled him back down hard and he unhappily grumbled into his plate. 

“Why does Draco look like someone’s spit in his cereal?” Blaise sat down next to Luna and did a double take to make sure that it really just happened. She didn’t pay him any mind and Blaise would never be the first to initiate contact so he continued on as if she wasn’t there. “And Daphne is wearing her gossip face.”

“I am not!” She cried indignantly. 

“Daphne has just told Adelinde that those Gryffindor boys want to lift her skirt,” Luna said, still reading  _ The Quibbler _ . Blaise didn’t glance at her but rather turned to Draco. 

“And they’re still walking?” He asked. Adelinde snapped her fingers in front of Blaise to draw his attention back to her. 

“The choice of maiming belongs to me,” she said. He raised his hands in surrender.

After breakfast Severus made a short speech about classes before they were all dismissed to their heads of houses to get their schedules. While Draco and the others made their way to Slughorn, Adelinde slipped through the crowd to approach the teacher’s table where Severus was waiting for her. 

“NEWT level Potions, DADA, Charms, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures,” he sent her a vaguely disdainful look but he knew how much Adelinde loved her fantastic beasts. “Are you sure you don’t want to take Divination?” It was partly a joke but he knew that she already had a certain talent for it. She thought for a moment about telling him that she dreamt last night but didn’t. She still didn’t know what it was. Telling him that she had a dream would be pointless. She grimaced and his lips twitched. 

“Do I - ” She stopped, feeling slightly embarrassed for asking. 

“Have all your classes with Draco?” he finished for her. “Yes.”

“Thank you!” She said brightly then bounced down the steps to meet Draco and Daphne. She handed her paper to Draco so he could see for himself and he walked slightly behind her and Daphne as they linked arms on their way to their first class. On their way out of the Great Hall Adelinde side eyed the boys who were now snickering off to the side, waiting to meet with McGonagall. One pulled out his wand but Adelinde was faster, waving it lazily and saying, “ _ Langlock _ .” 

They went bright red at being caught then scrabbled at their throats and gestured wildly trying to convey the message that none of them could speak. Daphne laughed loudly and pointedly on their way out and it drew the attention to everyone who was left in the hall to the boys who couldn’t speak. 

“What was that spell?” Daphne asked on their way to class.

“Langlock,” Adelinde repeated without intention. “Glues the tongue to the roof of one’s mouth.”

“Where’d you learn that?” She asked.

“Severus,” she admitted. 

“The Headmaster taught you that spell?” Daphne wore what Adelinde now knew to call her gossip face and she looked highly amused. 

“Taught me quite a few handy spells like that one,” Adelinde told her. They walked into the classroom and took their seats. History of Magic was terribly boring with Binns and redundant for Adelinde who had made her way through the Manor library twice and knew her history quite well. 

Next was double potions with their head of house. The walked into the dungeons and several of them stopped short at the rancid smell that was left over from a failed first year’s potion. Adelinde plugged her nose and powered through to a table with Draco on her heels. Daphne wasn’t in this class with them but Blaise was and so was Hermione Granger. 

Slughorn waved his wand and the smell was replaced by that of a fresh rain. Adelinde inhaled deeply and sat back in her seat. She looked around the cold stone walls and the teacher’s desk and the store room just behind it with the door ajar. This used to be Severus’ classroom. She wondered what it was like to learn from him in a classroom instead of one on one over summers with forbidden spell books and illegal ingredients. 

“Welcome, welcome,” Slughorn clapped his hands together. He surveyed his small class. They were the only three Slytherin and Hermione the sole Gryffindor, with three more Hufflepuffs and four Ravenclaws. “Can anyone tell me what is the most difficult potion to brew?” Hermione’s hand shot up and he chuckled. “Keep in mind this is subjective but feel free to argue. Miss Granger?”

“Polyjuice potion, Sir,” she answered. 

“Very good, ten - ”

“The Life Elixir,” Adelinde chimed in. Everyone turned to stare at her. On either side of her Draco and Blaise looked smug. Blaise sat with his perfect posture and haughty smile while Draco leant back in his seat with his fingers locked behind his head. 

“The Life Elixir has never been successfully brewed,” Hermione said. “A potion that’s never been brewed can’t be the most difficult one to brew. It’s impossible.”

“It hasn’t been brewed since Merlin made  it himself in 1006,” Adelinde pointed out. “It’s been done.”

“Very good Miss Snape!” Slughorn cried. “I see your father has been teaching you his craft at home. Excellent student Severus, one of the best. And quite the war hero too, I always knew he was a good man underneath everything. No doubt he’ll be one of the greatest headmasters in history. Ten points to Slytherin! Do you know if Severus has ever attempted the Life Elixir, if anyone could I’d bet it’d be him!”

“Not to my knowledge,” she said with a small smile because Severus hadn’t made the Life Elixir but she had. The Life Elixir is said to be able to heal any mortal wound and contrary to popular belief, it’s much more potent right after it’s brewed and nearly not at all after the suggested fortnight resting period. 

“Ah, well, if he does be sure to let me know, I’d love to see it,” he said. “We will not be tackling the Life Elixir today, class. No we will begin our very own Polyjuice potions today. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to brew a Polyjuice potion?”

Hermione’s hand shot up but Adelinde answered without being called on, “One month.”

“Very good Miss Snape! Take another ten points,” he said. “I know some of you have already successfully brewed this potion so I expect nothing but the best, go on get started, no time to waste.”

Adelinde wasn’t sure who besides Draco had successfully brewed the potion before learning it class but Hermione set to the task with a certain confidence, gathering everything she needed from the store closet and returning to her work space. Draco sat stiffly in his seat staring into the empty pewter cauldron. He’d been forced to recount in detail how he’d snuck the Death Eaters into Hogwarts during his trial. The Vanishing Cabinets hadn’t made public record, but using Polyjuice potion to disguise Crabbe and Goyle had. 

She plucked his hand out of his lap and tugged him toward the class stores with Blaise just behind them. The class was quiet until they were dismissed for the day. The next class period they’d have an essay due on a botched brew of their choice. 

After lunch was the class Adelinde was most excited for, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Granted, she had more practice in use of Dark Magic more so than the defense of it but every good witch knew her weaknesses. That thought pulled her up short just as they entered the room. Draco paused when he realized she wasn’t following him anymore and looked back at her. 

“Did you remember?” He asked.

“What? Oh, no, not yet,” she said. Dark Magic was so ingrained into her that it was still her default. She had to learn to be better. She followed Draco to sit next to Theo. This class was a wide assortment of seventh year students and sixth years, to Adelinde’s surprise. She saw Ginny and Luna sitting with Neville and Seamus Finnigan. 

“Settle down everyone,” Lupin came in through his office door. He was met with a round of applause. He bit back a smile and waved them off. “Welcome everyone, to the first Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts class. If you look around you’ll notice there are seventh, sixth, and even fifth years among you. And nearly all of you because you fought ever so bravely in the war.” Seamus opened his mouth but Lupin didn’t let him speak, continuing, “Each and every one of you was handpicked by the Headmaster and myself and I assure you that everyone has earned their place in this course. Any questions?”

“Yeah, does earn also mean be the headmaster’s daughter?” Seamus shouted out. There were a few snickers and Adelinde grinned, wide and sharp, but didn’t turn to face Seamus who sat two rows behind them and to the right. Lupin glanced at her and found her unbothered so he continued with the lesson. 

“Show of hands. How many of you got your wand from Ollivander’s in Diagon Alley?” Every single hand went up. “We’ll be pairing up and dueling with a wand with similar strengths to test the bond of wand and caster and the prowess of the witch or wizard. How many of you have Dragon Heartstring cores? Unicorn Hair? Phoenix Feathers? Very good. Ah - Miss Snape I noticed you did not raise your hand.”

“No, Sir,” she said. 

“You purchased your wand from Ollivander is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Ollivander only makes wands with three cores,” he said, it was very well known and some students nodded along. Adelinde felt a smirk creep up her lips. “Which is yours?”

“I purchased my wand from Garrick Ollivander, sir, but he did not make it,” she told him. “Gallchobhar Ollivander did.”

Lupin seemed interested and mildly impressed. “What is your wand then?”

“Thirteen inches long, made of yew, with a basilisk horn core,” she said and smugly listened to the chatter that began. 

“Show off,” Draco muttered next to her. 

“Since there is no one to pair you with - ”

“I’ll take Finnigan,” she interrupted. He raised an eyebrow at her. “There is an uneven number of Dragon Heartstring cores, is there not?” 

“There is,” Lupin paused and thought for a moment. His curiosity won out against whatever tried to reason with him against letting Adelinde get her way. He nodded. “Alright, everyone up.” He waved his wand and the tables formed one long dueling platform. Lupin paired them all up and sent them to opposite ends of the platform. The duels would be timed or until a duelist was incapacitated. Lupin listed off rules that Adelinde didn’t listen to and when he asked for volunteers to go first she wordlessly stepped up onto the platform with her eyes on Seamus, a small smile playing over her lips. 

He shucked off his robes and stepped up onto the platform opposite her. As per proper dueling etiquette they met in the center of the platform and bowed, wands out. Then they turned and went back to either side. Adelinde turned slowly, almost lazily, while Seamus whirled on the spot and shouted, 

“ _ Expelliarmus! _ ” Adelinde deflected and twirled her wand between her fingers. 

_ Entomorphis. _

Adelinde said nothing but the movement of her wand was concise. Seamus turned into a moth and Adelinde conjured a small glass ball around him the size of a Snitch. She drew the ball toward her and caught it in her free hand. She held it up to the rest of the class and several students cheered. Then she turned a hurled it at the wall. Someone shrieked but as the glass ball broke Adelinde returned Seamus to normal and he dropped to the floor, bruised but not quite broken aside from his pride. 

“My father,” she began clearly but quietly. Everyone hushed to listen to ear. “Did not overestimate my abilities. It would be in your best interest  to not underestimate them.” 

She accepted Draco’s extended hand as she descended the steps to applause. Several other pairs went through; Ginny won her duel spectacularly against Dean Thomas, Luna won against Ernie Macmillan, and Hermione barely beat Theo. 

Draco stepped up onto the platform against Neville. Neville undid his cuff buttons and rolled up his sleeves. Draco waited for him. Adelinde saw a flash of red as they bowed but no one had cast a spell yet. A shadow skittered across her vision. She heard a laugh ringing in her ears that was all too familiar and suddenly she was thrown head first back into her dream. 

_ “Poor poor, little Draco,” Bellatrix Lestrange sang. Draco was being held down on his knees by two masked Death Eaters and Bella was dancing circles around them. “He wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you. If you have just done what you were born to do!” _

_ “I might’ve been born to see Voldemort rise but I will not live to see it done,” Adelinde spat. She watched herself struggle not to look at Draco on his knees and helpless. He was looking at Adelinde as though he could will her to be strong. _

_ “Oh, you will,” Bella laughed again. “But Draco might not. CRUCIO!” he couldn’t help it, he screamed as the pain gripped his body and reverberated through every bone and every nerve. Adelinde’s eyes widened. _

“ _ Draco _ ,” it was an echo of her dream self, her future self. Her own scream rang in her ears but the words in the present were hardly more than an exhale. He turned, out of an instinct to always respond to her voice, just in time to see her sway then fall to her knees. 

“Adelinde!” He watched her fall and half turned toward her. Neville hit him with a leg locking curse and he fell on the platform. He swore and performed the counter curse and jumped off the platform to kneel beside her. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Someone asked.

“Shut it,” Blaise snapped. 

“Adelinde,” Draco said again, firmer this time. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her gaze up from the stone floor to his face. She refocused her eyes and fisted her hand in his shirt.  To make sure he was real, he was alive, he was alright. Bellatrix was not here, she was in Azkaban. She had made Draco a promise and she intended to keep that promise no matter what. 

“Mr. Malfoy I think you should escort Miss Snape to the hospital wing,” Lupin said. Draco nodded, worried gaze still fixed on Adelinde and helped her back up to her feet. 

Draco did not escort her to the hospital wing. Instead they went to the Headmaster’s office where Adelinde explained what she had seen after Severus sent Draco back to class, not without protest. He said nothing for a long while and his silence wasn’t unwelcome. It was calming. Adelinde shared her dreams with Severus because she knew he’d never venture to stop them, he’d always preached  _ Preparations not preventions _ . 

That night in her room, Adelinde faced her bed alone after being quiet all through dinner and forgoing any socializing in the common room. Her jaw clenched and tears burned the backs of her eyes. She hated feeling helpless and if she went back to sleep there was a very good chance she’d dream again and if she dreamt again she’d go back to being helpless. 

Her door opened and she spun around, wand raised. Draco put his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

“Just me,” he said and gently shut the door behind him.

“How did you get in here?” She asked despite being utterly relieved to see him. He was dressed for bed as well in green flannel pants and a black long sleeved shirt. 

“Special permission from the Headmaster,” he told her. Which meant he’d gone back to see Severus at some point without her. It had to have been when he left dinner early, she’d walked back with Daphne and Blaise and Theo. “I - I know you don’t like to sleep alone after - ” He cut himself off and flushed pink. 

It was true. When she was little, Adelinde had always climbed into bed with Narcissa after she dreamed, and Severus on occasion when she was particularly shaken and Narcissa was gone. She threw her arms around Draco and he hugged her tightly. 

They settled on the bed together, pushing through anything that might have been awkward, and ended with Adelinde’s head on Draco’s chest and her back to the wall. His right arm wrapped around her shoulders and his left lay out to the side. Adelinde spread her fingers under his shoulder, feeling the solid warmth of him in the cold dungeons and reached with her other hand for his left forearm. He didn’t move but he went tense and his fingers stopped drawing whatever pattern on her arm. 

“Don’t,” he said. “Please.”

She didn’t move his sleeve. “I’ve seen it.” His laugh was harsh. She had done more than see it. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I could have not done it,” she said and knew he wouldn’t understand. 

“Then someone else would have,” he said. After a long while he added, “I’m glad it was you.”

She buried her face in his shoulder. He shouldn’t be glad it was her. Because of her, that mark would never fade. 


	4. Snakes and Serpents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why not?”  
> “Do you want to live to see Norway again?” She asked.  
> “Yesssssssss,” she hissed. “It’s too warm here.”  
> “If you hurt a student, they’ll put you down.”  
> “What’sss to say they won’t kill me anyway?”

Breakfast on their second day meant mail. Parents asking how first days went, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and Weasley Wizard Wheezes orders dropped onto tables with loud thuds, and rattled the silverware. A mean looking screech owl dropped a letter in front of Adelinde and then another in front of Draco. They were both addressed from Narcissa. Draco set his off to the side before continuing eating breakfast. She saw that there was something inside the envelope and she knew Draco wouldn’t open it in front of other people if he opened it at all. So she snatched it up and tore it open and a badge dropped into her palm. There was a small tag attached to it that read; _You forgot this._

Adelinde held it up in front of his face until he actually focused on it. Then he frowned.

“I’m still on the quidditch team?” He asked.

“You’re _captain_ of the quidditch team,” Adelinde corrected. When he didn’t take the badge she dropped it back onto the table.

“So you didn’t open _any_ of your mail,” Blaise said from across the table. “That’s comforting.”

Another letter was dropped in front of Adelinde by a barn owl. Startled, Adelinde picked it up and opened it. All it read in Blaise’s neat penmanship was, _Have a letter_. She looked up at him, delighted. He graced her with a small smile before returning to his conversation with Theo.

“When are try outs then?” Daphne asked.

“There must be some mistake,” Draco mumbled. He glanced up at the teacher’s table but Slughorn was absorbed in conversation with Flitwick. Severus looked over at them, still half listening to whatever McGonagall was saying to him. Adelinde picked up the badge and held it up for confirmation. Severus looked vaguely amused as he nodded.

“No mistake,” Adelinde said, tossing the badge into his lap. “Daphne, are you interested in going out for the team?”

Theo choked on his drink and Blaise turned his full attention to Daphne. Even Draco shook himself out of his stupor to stare at her. Daphne flicked her hair over her shoulder and shrugged noncommittally.

“I was considering it,” she said.

“You can’t be serious,” said Blaise.

“Why not?” Adelinde and Daphne asked at the same time. Next to Adelinde, Draco was subtly shaking his head at him.

“You’ve never played before,” Theo pointed out.

“Neither had Draco when his father bought his way onto the team,” Daphne pointed out.

“Why are you attacking me?” He asked. “And for your information I had played quidditch before that!”

“Well I’ve got a lot of pent up rage and I think I ought to be able to hit something!” Daphne shot back.

“Beater it is then,” Adelinde said.

“Well, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other people at try outs,” Draco said. “And I’ll have to be fair - ”

“When have you ever been fair a day in your life?” Daphne asked. Draco sputtered.

“You’re going to have to put her on the team, mate,” Blaise said.

“You’re going to _want_ to put me on the team,” Daphne said. “I’m quite good at anything I set my mind to.”

“You couldn’t have set your mind to potions back in fifth year?” Theo asked.

“Copying your work was easier,” she shrugged.

Just after breakfast and before Charms, Adelinde slipped away from her friends and made her way to Lupin’s office. She knocked once and waited with her hands folded in front of her skirt. She always did her best to look unassuming but her magic came off of her in waves and she couldn’t prevent that. Lupin opened the door and looked surprised to see her.

“I take it you’re feeling better Miss Snape?” He asked, moving aside to let her in.

“Much better, thank you,” she said. She took in the room with one sweeping look. A grindylow in a tank in the corner, overflowing bookshelves, a photograph of Tonks and Teddy, both with pink hair waving from the desk.

“What can I do for you then?” He asked, sitting in his chair.

“I came to ask a favor,” she admitted. He gestured for Adelinde to sit across from him but she declined politely. He folded his hands and leaned forward, giving her his full attention.

“Lucius Malfoy plans to plead guilty at his trial next month,” she said. Narcissa’s letter was burning a hole in her pocket, the words _don’t tell Draco_ , burned the backs of her eyes. But this wasn’t about him. Not right now. “At this moment Cissy is home, alone, and after the trial, she will be home, alone.”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking of me,” he said.

“Narcissa Malfoy has made mistakes, but she is a great woman. She raised me. She protected me,” she said. “And right now she needs her family.”

“You don’t mean Andromeda, do you?” He asked. Adelinde read the look on his face and knew he was about to patronize her. He’d say she didn’t understand. That these two women were fully grown and estranged and Adelinde couldn’t fix them. She cut him off.

“Narcissa is a proud woman. She loves her husband and she loves her children and none of us are there. She won’t ask for help. But if it’s offered, she’ll accept it. She’s proud, not stupid. And - she misses her sister. I’m not asking you to pull a miracle fairy tale ending out of thin air. I’m asking you to talk to Andromeda. To tell her that her sister needs her. That is it. Will you do it?”

Adelinde’s questions were hardly ever really questions. She asked them as if they were already answered. Lupin seemed at a loss for a moment before he said, “I’ll tell her.”

“Thank you, Professor,” she said and swept out of the room. She barely made it to Charms on time, leaving Draco no time to question where she’d gone. Flitwick fawned over Hermione while they reviewed the charms they’d learned sixth year. They didn’t actually perform any charms outside of a few students goofing around and levitating books and quills and the like.

Transfiguration was the class Adelinde was most apprehensive about. Not because she couldn’t handle the material, no, she was already an unregistered animagus, arguably the most complex form of transfiguration. She was nervous because Minerva McGonagall was the only person outside of her family who knew who she really was. McGonagall was clearly wary of her from the first time they met but it wasn’t as though Adelinde could blame her.

They took their seats at the two person desk, just behind Daphne and Theo, leaving Blaise to glare at them all as he passed to sit in the only vacant seat left, next to Tracey. Daphne glanced back at Adelinde over her shoulder and Adelinde did her best not to laugh out loud. Daphne had told her that Blaise had a crush on Tracey ever since third year but her status as half-blood hadn’t been good enough. Now, though, after witnessing first hand the damage that superiority and prejudice had done, he’d learned. He was growing. But he hadn’t found a way to tell her, to prove himself yet. So they sat at the desk, staring in two different directions and not saying a word.

Draco glanced back at them and grinned at Blaise. Then something exploded next to his head. Draco ducked his head down and redirected his grin at Adelinde and it left her winded. His smile was always so beautiful and she hardly ever saw it anymore. Closer to not at all when her father had taken to living in the Manor. She was so lost in it she jumped when McGonagall swept into the room and the door slammed behind her.

“Good morning, class,” she addressed them.

“Good morning, Professor,” they chorused.

“We will be continuing your coursework from your sixth year,” she began. “Most importantly, conjuration transfiguration. Who can tell me what cannot be conjured?”

Predictably, Hermione’s hand shot up. But so did Draco’s. McGonagall’s surprise slipped over her features like a raindrop, then it was gone. She called on him.

“Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration states that food cannot be conjured, only summoned or transfigured,” he said.

“Very good, Mr. Malfoy,” she said. “And what is the easiest thing to conjure? Miss Snape?”

“Water,” she answered. “Is the easiest _thing_. Aguamente is taught to first years. However, the easiest categories of creature to conjure is birds and snakes.”

“Thank you, Miss Snape, that brings me to today’s lesson,” she said. “Today you will conjure a bird or snake of any kind and keep it as a pet for one week. If the animal disappears from existence before we return for class Tuesday, you will fail the assignment. Begin.”

Several shouts of ‘ _Avis’_ were immediately heard from around the room. Not all of them successful. One bird flew out of the window and was gone forever and some Hufflepuff accidentally conjured a vulture that McGonagall untransfigured immediately.

“Something smaller, if you please, Ms. Abbott,” she said. She continued making her rounds, correcting improper wand work and pronunciation. She commended Tracey on her cardinal and told Blaise his blue jay wouldn’t last a full day unless he cast his spell with more conviction. She came to stand next to Adelinde and Draco’s table. neither of them had even attempted a spell yet. Adelinde had been watching the room and noted that not a single person had uttered the snake summoning spell. They had all chosen birds. “Miss Snape? Mr Malfoy? Would you care to participate in this project?”

“Of course Professor,” Adelinde answered immediately, eyes still scanning the room. Not a single snake. Adelinde had already drawn so much attention to herself with the duels and her almost fainting spell and just the fact of her surname. Summoning a snake seemed to be the very last thing she should do. But she chose to do it anyway, because snakes and Slytherins alike were not to be feared just because they were associated with Dark Magic. The change had to begin somewhere. And Adelinde decided that could be her. That it _should_ be her.

She stood and noticed half the class covertly watching while still half heartedly attempting their own conjurations and the other half openly staring. Without her permission, Nagini popped into her mind’s eye and she violently shoved that image aside in favor of a rosy boa.

“ _Serpensortia_ ”

It was small, barely two feet long, and a pale bone color the same as her wand, with a blush colored stripe along the length of her. The class went quiet and everyone stared. Adelinde kept her composure and waited for McGonagall’s approving nod, then with a self satisfied smile, sat back down.

“ _Serpensortia!_ ”

There was a collective _whoosh_ as every head in the classroom whipped around to look at Daphne who had just summoned a gartner snake. She looked half smug and half surprised that she had managed it with one try.

“Oh, Daphne, he’s gorgeous,” Adelinde gushed. She scooped up her rosy boa and deposited her on the table she shared with Draco before she picked up Daphne’s snake. He really was beautiful, he was black with bright blue and red stripes. He wound around her arm but Adelinde gently pulled him off to drape him around Daphne’s shoulders. Daphne had managed to school her features into her usual arrogant and pretty smile and she pet her snake’s head.

“Well, Miss Snape and Miss Greengrass have managed it,” McGonagall said. “Let’s see the rest of you.”

Adelinde turned back to Draco who was petting her rosy boa with one finger. She sat back down and moved her chair closer to his.

“You were always good at conjuring snakes,” he said. He spoke so quietly and the classroom was buzzing again so she almost missed it. But they were sitting so close that she could count his eyelashes.

“So are you,” she said. His lips pursed and he glanced at his wand that sat untouched on the desk. There was a cry as someone else successfully conjured a snake across the room. Daphne glanced back at Adelinde and winked. “Do you remember when you tried to conjure a raven instead of an owl to send me a letter and we assumed it must have disappeared mid flight because I never got it?”

He looked at her curiously and nodded. She took a deep breath. “I lied. It made it all the way to the Manor and I told you it didn't because I was jealous. I'd never been able to conjure a bird that lasted longer than a few minutes. And yours had made it all the way home. I am sorry it was silly of me to lie to you about something so small. I was just jealous I suppose.”

“You were jealous?” He frowned at her. She opened her mouth to explain herself but realized this was not the place and merely nodded.

“Guess I was just trying to say that you’re really good at ravens, too,” she said. She motioned toward his wand and he picked it up.

“ _Avis_ ”

He said it quietly but with meaning. A raven appeared on the desk and preened. It hopped toward Adelinde’s rosy boa and she hissed. It flapped it’s wings and landed on Draco’s shoulder.

“Well done, Mr. Malfoy,” McGonagall commended. “Bring your projects to class Thursday for an assessment. Enjoy lunch!”

They were a mess of feathers and scales as everyone all but stampeded out of the room. The rosy boa wrapped around Adelinde’s throat like a necklace and Draco’s raven flew overhead. He turned to her on their way to the Great Hall, “Do you - ”

“Adelinde!” Daphne caught up with them. “I have to go back to the dormitory to grab my arithmancy book, do you want me to take Rosie?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Adelinde said. She handed her off.

“Alright, I’ll see you later in Herbology!” She said and took off.

“What were you going to say?” She asked Draco as they walked into the hall.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Oh, don’t do that,” she said.

“No,” he said with a reassuring smile. “It really was nothing.” She still looked dubious but let it go.

“Adelinde!” Luna cried from the Ravenclaw table where she sat with Ginny. “Won’t you join us?”

“Love to!” She said and towed Draco over to them. He and Ginny wore matching expressions of aversion.

The girls were sitting across from one another and instead of going around the entire table, Draco slid in next to Adelinde who sat next to Luna. Luna wordlessly passed over her copy of _The Quibbler_ to Adelinde. There was silence as Adelinde read and Draco and Ginny avoided one another’s gaze.

“Congratulations on your captaincy, Draco,” Luna said.

“Oh, erm, thanks,” he said.

“Ginny’s captain as well, you know,” she said.

“Well I’d expect so,” he said and Ginny looked up at him, surprised. Adelinde nudged his knee with hers. He cleared his throat. “There’s no one else on their pathetic excuse for a team that has any chance at leading them.”

“So close,” Adelinde mumbled and shook her head.

“Our team will be just fine this year, thanks,” Ginny said coolly.

“With you at Seeker or Chaser?” he asked. “Because you’re a good enough Seeker but Chaser is what you’re best at. If you can’t find a decent Seeker you know you’ll have to play it and that will decrease your overall scoring average so dramatically it might not even matter if you catch the snitch.”

“Was that a compliment?” Ginny asked Draco and glanced at Adelinde to confirm. Adelinde pretended to read.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Draco scoffed.

“I think it was two,” Luna said. “He said you were a good Seeker and a great Chaser.”

“That’s not what I said,” he insisted.

“Does it hurt?” Ginny asked. “Being nice?”

“A little, actually, yeah,” he said and to their surprise Ginny laughed. Draco and Ginny continued discussing quidditch and Adelinde eventually turned to Luna and asked her a question about Nargles.

“Oh, we’re going to be late for Care of Magical Creatures,” Adelinde cried and stood up.

“Tell Hagrid we say hi,” said Ginny.

“I will!”

“I’ll walk you,” Draco said.

“You’re not taking it?” Adelinde asked, frowning.

“Do you know me?” he asked. “At all?” She scowled at him and led them both outside. Draco started toward Hagrid’s hut but Adelinde pulled him toward the Great Lake. She looped her arms through his and they fell into step on the grass. “You never told me what your dream was about.”

Adelinde tensed and she knew he must have felt it. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It will come to pass no matter what.”

“So it was about me, then,” he said.

“What?”

“You always tell me about your dreams unless I’m in them,” he said. She floundered for a moment and was saved from having to reply by Hagrid.

“Malfoy?” He asked. “Didn’ expect ya ter take my class after - well.”

“I’m not, actually,” he rubbed the back of his head and squinted up at Hagrid. “I just - sorry about - all that.” Both Hagrid and Adelinde looked at him, surprised.

“Really?” Hagrid asked, dubious.

“Yeah, I was a little shit,” he said and looked over at Adelinde, who was beaming at him. His returning smile was helpless.

“Well, erm, apology accepted I s’pose,” Hagrid said. He walked away to continue setting up for his lesson. Adelinde gave Draco a playful shove.

“Look at you!”

“Why? Have I got something on my face?” But he was still smiling.

“I’m proud of you,” she said and his cheeks tinged pink. “I know you don’t - ” She cut herself off. She couldn’t find the right words. The Malfoys were a proud family and apologies and reconciliation did not come easily.

“I know, you know,” he said. He looked as though he wanted to say something else but instead turned on his heel and left as Hagrid called for the class to convene. It was a small class but Hagrid was so big it almost felt too crowded.

“Gather round everyone!” He called. He was barefoot with his trouser legs rolled up to his knees and standing ankle deep in the water. “Got a special treat fer ya today.” He picked up a dead fish out of a bucket and threw it into the middle of the lake. While it was still airborne and serpent shot out of the water with a horse like head and pale green scales and caught it. There was a collective cry of surprise and awe.

“Is that a sea serpent?” someone asked.

“It’s a lake serpent,” someone else corrected. Adelinde turned and found Theo standing in the back of the crowd, slightly out of breath. “Sorry I’m late, Professor. I had to stop some first years from trying to sneak some brooms out to the pitch.”

“Oh, that’s - that’s alright,” Hagrid flushed at his title of Professor and Theo came to stand next to Adelinde. “Mr. Nott is correct. This beauty here is a Norwegian Selma.”

Adelinde tore her eyes away from the still lake surface to look at Hagrid. Selmas were the sole breed of serpent that were known to feed on human flesh. It was most certainly not safe to have one on the grounds.

“Is this giant squid still in there?” Neville asked.

“Yeah they’re friendly enough,” Hagrid answered. “We’re gonna get into tha boats and head out ter the platforms ter get a closer look at her.” The floating docks in the middle of the lake were the same ones from the Tri Wizard tournament, brought back for the purpose of the lesson.

“Did Snape approve this?” Theo leaned over and whispered to her as the boats floated across.

“Must have,” Adelinde said with her eyes on the water. “How else would he have gotten it into the lake?”

“Don’t worry,” Hagrid was saying as they all disembarked. “She’s very docile. But try not ter fall in anyhow.”

As if on cue, there was a splash as someone missed the step out of their boat and onto the platform. Hagrid reached down and grabbed the student by the back of their robes and hauled them out of the water.

“Careful there, Mr Corner,” Hagrid said and set him down. Padma Patil dried him off with a wave of her wand. Adelinde accepted Theo’s outstretched hand and stepped up onto the dock. There was plenty of room for all of them, though the wood creaked whenever Hagrid shifted his weight. Hagrid knelt next to the staircase that led to the upper spectator levels and threw another fish into the water. The Selma didn’t surface.

“Where is it?” Theo asked warily.

“Oh, she’s just bein’ shy,” Hagrid muttered. The crowd of students shifted suddenly and violently as someone was shoved into the water. Parvati Patil screamed when she surface Ernie Macmillan and Terry Boot roared with laughter. “Just swim a little, yer alright.” Hagrid said gently but the urgent undertone of his voice gave him away and the boys stopped laughing.

“Fifty points from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,” Theo snapped.

“You can’t do that!” Ernie cried.

“Yes, I can,” Theo said coolly. He raised a challenging eyebrow, daring Ernie to test him again.

Parvati, as it turned out, was not a good swimmer. Especially while crying. Near the other end of the lake, the Selma breached, once, twice, three times, and then suddenly it was on her. Parvati screamed and flailed.

“ _No!_ ” The word, thankfully, was in English and not Parseltongue. But the serpent lifted it’s head, sensing her and her power. Aquatic serpents were cousins to snakes and while they didn’t respond as well as snakes did, they did still respond. Adelinde had flung out her hand and the beast fixated on it. “Theo, get me a fish.”

He scrambled to do so and placed it in her outstretched hand. The stench of rotting fish made Adelinde wrinkle her nose but she tightened her grip so it wouldn’t slip out. Ever so slowly, she stepped to the side and the Selma followed her movement. Her foot hit the first step and all eyes were on her, except for Parvati who was still trying to swim back to Hagrid.

Adelinde ascended the steps slowly, careful not to fall and break contact. She reached the second level and the Selma rose out of the water with her as she ascended another level. On the fifth and final level, far away from the ears of her classmates, Adelinde said in Parseltongue,

“ _Don’t hurt anyone_ ,” her tone was that of a mother reprimanding a child. The beast cocked it’s head to the side, glanced at the fish in her hand, then looked her in the face with a big beady eye.

“ _Why not?_ ”

“ _Do you want to live to see Norway again?_ ” She asked.

“ _Yesssssssss,_ ” she hissed. “ _It’s too warm here_.”

“ _If you hurt a student, they’ll put you down.”_

“ _What’sss to say they won’t kill me anyway?”_

 _“I won’t let them.”_ The Selma considered her for a moment. Then her eyes flickered back to the fish still in her hand and Adelinde knew they had an understanding. She threw the fish and the Selma caught it and slunk back down into the water.

Adelinde’s relief swept through her like a cool breeze on a sweltering day. But appearances were everything and she didn’t let it show even though she was quite certain no one could see her. She took a moment to breathe and looked out over the lake. Then she turned to see the grounds. The castle stood tall and stronger than ever. Any evidence of the battle swept away. The quidditch pitch was empty. The Forbidden Forest was dark, even in the late afternoon light. She breathed in the fresh air one could only get close to the sky and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again she saw someone at the edge of the lake. She didn’t need to squint to know it was Draco, his pale hair reflected the sunlight and he stood with his hands in his pockets. He was looking up at her, unwavering, but he was too far for her to see his expression. His sleeves were rolled down, even though it was a hot and sunny September afternoon. She knew it was because of the Dark Mark on his forearm and there was a twinge of regret in her heart strings. But then she remembered his smile, so wide and bright and young. Draco deserved to smile.

She remembered Narcissa’s letter, still in her pocket. Words that would make that smile vanish, but other words that warmed her from the inside out She’d save it, like she’d saved her mother’s letters. A physical reminder that someone loved her. It was there, written plain as day, _With Love, Cissy_ . It made her heavy heart grow wings and flutter in her chest. She was loved. Draco was loved. They were stronger for it. They were _alive_ because of it. Love, it seemed was a magic that could not be taught, but was powerful all the same.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next:
> 
> “Is that him?”
> 
> “Yes,” Severus answered. “It would seem you have petrified him rather than paralyze him.”
> 
> Adelinde’s lips twitched up into a cold smile. “Have I?”


	5. Quidditch Season Opener

The next few weeks flew by and before Adelinde could really register it all, she was walking down to the quidditch pitch with Theo in the last week of September. Daphne had gone out for the team and broken no less than six fingers of the others that went out for Beater, securing her spot, and she’d be starting alongside fourth year Francis Hubble.

The opening match was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor and the October chill bled into the end of September as they wrapped themselves in green sweaters and scarves. The opposite side of the pitch was a sea of red, and it was much bigger than Slytherin’s cheering section. But the Slytherin house had shown up to support and even a few from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Adelinde slid into the seat next to Luna, who was wearing green tights with silver snakes painted around the legs and a matching sweater that had a snake made out of tinsel on the front. Adelinde found that she thoroughly enjoyed the sweater and told Luna she wanted one just like it.

The teacher’s box was already filled as well, with Severus sitting next to McGonagall in tense silence. Severus might have been headmaster but he was still a Slytherin and quidditch was serious business. There were a few unfamiliar faces and Theo pointed out the scout for the Holyhead Harpies, rumored to be there to watch Ginny.

Adelinde stifled a yawn behind her hand. She’d been up all night with a nervous, pacing Draco in the common room. Reassuring him that yes, he did deserve this. No, he wouldn’t screw everything up. Yes, he could do this. No, he would absolutely not call in sick for the game.

Now, he took the field with his head held high and his shoulders set in their usual arrogant fashion. He and Ginny met in the middle of the field for the captain’s meet. Then the Slytherin Chaser, Vaisey, took Draco’s place for the start of the game.

Then they were off. Ginny took the quaffle and held onto it even as Daphne hit a bludger at her. She passed it off to another Chaser who quickly passed it back. Ginny took the shot and scored. Draco was right, she really was a great Chaser, and it was her scoring that allowed Gryffindor to hold their own despite not having Harry as a Seeker anymore.

Adelinde’s eyes kept flickering upwards where the Seekers hovered above the match, surveying the pitch and searching for the snitch. Slytherin scored. Gryffindor scored. Slytherin scored twice more. Then it seemed the Gryffindor seeker spotted the Snitch. Everyone cried out and pointed and watched him dive down and stretch a hand out. Then his hand was smashed by a well aimed bludger from Daphne. Slytherin’s side erupted into cheers as the Gryffindor Seeker managed to keep a hold of his broom but lost the Snitch.

Draco hadn't moved at all and Adelinde looked up at him, worried. But then he signaled to Daphne. It was a play. Now Gryffindor had to score at least one hundred and fifty points if they wanted a chance at winning. Their Seeker was still in play but with only one functioning hand it was unlikely he could catch the Snitch.

But Ginny seemed to have made it her mission to personally score one hundred and fifty points. Their Keeper didn't stand a chance. The score was one hundred and ten to seventy in Gryffindor’s favor when Draco made a sudden dive. Cheers erupted and everyone strained to see what he saw. The Gryffindor Seeker chased after him blindly, steering his broom with one hand cradled against his chest.

A flash of red light and then Draco was falling. Adelinde stood up quick as lightning and fired a _Petfricious Totalus_. Whoever it was, Adelinde couldn’t see from all the way across the pitch, dropped, paralyzed. Draco was still falling. He had been so high up, a fall like that could kill him. Adelinde redirected her wand at him. Use of magic during quidditch matches was illegal, but the rules had never really applied to Adelinde anyway.

She ended up not needing magic. Ginny abandoned the quaffle and dove after him. She caught him by the back of the robes ten feet off the ground and gently lowered his unconscious form the rest of the way down.

“Did you just hit a target from a hundred meters away?” Theo asked in disbelief.

“The average quidditch pitch is one hundred and fifty meters wide,” she replied off handedly. Then she was shoving through the crowd to get down to Draco, with Theo on her heels. After the first few people went flying, the rest moved to get out of her way. She ran out onto the pitch the same time as Severus. He was much more dignified in kneeling next to Draco to make sure he wasn’t hurt, than Adelinde, who had thrown herself into the grass by his side. Ginny stepped back and waited with her broom in her hand and Daphne landed not far from her. But they all both gave the trio space.

“Is he all right?” Ginny asked. Her face was stony but the concern leaked into her voice.

“He won’t wake up,” Adelinde said. She’d been shaking him and saying his name.

“What was it?” Severus asked her.

“Red,” she answered because she couldn’t focus long enough to catch a hold of the magic itself.

“Are you sure?” He asked seriously. Adelinde was momentarily floored by the implication. That someone would use a killing curse on Draco, so openly, it was a morbid thought. She nodded.

“Definitely red,” she answered.

“ _Rennervate_ ,” Severus murmured. Draco startled awake and tried to sit up quickly. Adelinde caught him by the shoulders and narrowly avoiding knocking their heads together.

“It’s okay,” she rushed to assure him. “You’re okay.”

There was applause as the crowd realized he was awake, and for the most part, alright.

“I want a rematch,” Ginny said before anyone could call to resume. “Get him to the hospital wing.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Severus drawled. Together he and Adelinde pulled Draco to his feet. He put an arm around her shoulders to help support him. Adelinde put a hand to his chest to keep him from falling forward.

“I want him,” Adelinde said to Severus, knowing he’d understand, she meant the attacker.

“Absolutely not,” he said.  

“Who was it?” Daphne asked, twirling her bat and searching through the stands.

“The paralyzed one,” Adelinde answered.

“Take Draco to the hospital wing,” Severus told Adelinde. “I will address this.”

“I’ll - ” she started.

“Now, Young Lady,” he cut her off. Even Draco flinched at the title. Adelinde gaped at him but no one else seemed to have noticed. “We will discuss your behavior later.”

 _“My behavior_?” She echoed incredulously.

“Adelinde,” Draco groaned. Adelinde ground her teeth together and helped Draco off the field. Theo and Daphne went to follow but Severus told them to stay. Half way up to the castle they could hear Severus’ voice booming, but they were too far away to make out just what he was saying.

 _Young Lady_. The title was given to her by her father and it was what all Death Eaters called her outside of Severus and Narcissa. No one else was allowed to address her by name. Severus was the only one who could make it sound condescending. One other had tried and had been left unable to speak for a month.

By the time they'd made it to the hospital wing, Draco was walking on his own and the color has returned to his face. But Madam Pomfrey fussed over him and got him into a bed and all his declarations that he was fine fell on deaf ears.

Madam Pomfrey ordered overnight supervision then retreated into her office. Adelinde sat on the foot of Draco’s bed and recounted what happened for him. Eventually they shifted so that they were both propped up by several pillows on either end of the bed with their legs tangled between them. Adelinde yawned into her hand and Draco nudged her thigh with his foot.

“You should go back to the dormitory,” he said.

“I’m not leaving,” she said. Her eyes were already closed so she missed his soft smile.

“Then go to sleep,” he said and she did.

She woke but didn’t move when not much later the doors banged open. There was shuffling and Madam Pomfrey fawning over the student. “What happened to him?”

“What a question, Poppy,” Severus drawled. “Draco?”

“She said she used the total body bind curse,” he answered.

“If that were the case, the counter curse should have worked,” he said. “Wake her, please.”

“But - ”

“I’m awake,” Adelinde said, and pushed herself back up into a sitting position. She looked over at the bed a few down from Draco, where the student lay. She didn’t recognize him but he couldn’t have been older than a fifth year. Professor McGonagall was there as well, lips pursed with disapproval. “Is that him?”

“Yes,” Severus answered. “It would seem you have petrified him rather than paralyze him.”

Adelinde’s lips twitched up into a cold smile. “Have I?”

“Do you have a way to reverse it?” Severus asked, unamused. “Or do I need to tell Professor Sprout her mandrakes are needed?”

She swung her legs off the bed and strode over to the other student’s bed in sock clad feet. She pulled her wand out and stood over him. She was sure she had cast the body binding curse. She didn’t even know how to petrify someone. She admired her handiwork for a moment before she pulled out her wand.

She didn’t think of a spell, she just focused on taking her magic back. It was easier with a wand. The boy was unconscious but his limbs relaxed and he sunk into the mattress. Madam Pomfrey busied herself with checking the rest of him.

“Minerva, will you owl the boy’s parents and let them know he will be just fine?” He didn’t look at her as she turned and left. “Poppy, give us a moment.”

When they were alone, Severus and Adelinde faced off. Both with endless patience and poise.

“Attacking a student,” he began slowly. “Is a very serious offense.” Adelinde clasped her hands in front of her and waited with raised eyebrows for him to continue. When he was sure she wasn’t going to interrupt, he said, “There will be consequences. I cannot let you off lightly because you are my daughter. The entire school witnessed you petrify this boy, not paralyze him, _petrify_. Things will change. People will be wary of you at the very least. Terrified at most. I urge you to be more careful. As punishment for this incident, you will not be allowed to go to Hogsmeade, week after next and will serve detention with me.”

“What is his punishment?” Adelinde asked calmly, still calculating her reaction.

“He will not be allowed into Hogsmeade, either, and will serve detention with his head of house,” he answered.

“One would think,” she began and she heard Draco shift behind her on his bed. She knew it was because the tone she had taken was one she reserved for Death Eaters. There was a subtle shift in Severus’ expression that told her he had detected it as well. “That attempted murder would warrant a more severe punishment.”

“However misguided his actions were,” he said. “He’s a young boy - ”

“And I’m just a Young Lady,” she said coolly.

“And I doubt his end goal was Draco’s death,” he continued as if she hadn’t interrupted.

“Then what do you think it was?” She asked with a small smile. “Do you think he meant for Draco to hold onto the broom after he’d stunned him? Catch the snitch after taking a Stupefy to the back? Did he think Draco would dodge it after seeing it with the eyes he had in the back of his head? Or maybe he thought he’d be able to block it when wands aren’t allowed onto the pitch”

“I do not believe he thought his actions through,” Severus said.

“I did,” Adelinde said. “I thought it all through quite thoroughly in a matter of seconds. Killing him outright wasn’t an option. Neither was any other unforgivable because I don’t especially like the idea of a stint in Azkaban with the rest of my band of merry followers. I didn’t want him laughing, I didn’t want him making excuses, I didn’t want him running away. The spell I chose was Petrificus Totalus. My anger fueled my magic into something more powerful than that. And I still take responsibility for the end result.

“If that _young boy_ wakes up and does not do the same, there will be real consequences to pay,” she promised.

“Adelinde, you cannot interfere. It would be detrimental to your reputation, to mine, and to the school’s,” he said.

“You know perfectly well that it wouldn’t be the first time I interfered at Hogwarts with none the wiser,” she replied.

“I forbid you from involving yourself any further,” he said.

“Forbid me?” She asked with an amused lilt. “On what authority? Because last I checked Lady outranked servant.”

“As your father,” he said and it made the backs of her eyes sting because all her life Adelinde had wanted nothing more than for Severus to be her father, her actual father. But as much as she loved him he wasn’t. Because the reality of her paternal heritage always loomed over her. “You were reckless today and I’m incredibly disappointed. We will discuss it further at your detention. Goodnight.”

He turned and left the hospital wing and Adelinde stood rooted to the spot. His disappointment burned a hole through her chest and her shame crept up her shoulders. She brought a hand up to touch her cheek and her fingertips came away wet. She rubbed her forefinger and thumb together. It had been a very long time since she’d cried.

The bed creaked and Adelinde half turned, surprised. She had forgotten Draco was there, that he’d been there the whole time. The springs in the old mattress groaned as he got off the bed and walked over to her to wrap her in his arms. She let him hold her until she felt him subtly move to tug his sleeve down further.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped into his shoulder and pulled away.

“For what?” he frowned at her.

Madam Pomfrey’s office door opened and she came back out to usher Draco back into bed and pull the curtains around the other boy’s bed. She opened her mouth to no doubt kick Adelinde out for the night but took one look at her tear stained face and said nothing as she went back into her office.

Adelinde crawled onto the bed and sat back on her heels in between Draco’s legs. She wiped at her cheeks and reached for his left arm. She held his hand in her lap and pushed his sleeved up with her other hand.

The Dark Mark was unforgiving on his pale skin. Hard black lines that would remain black forever. His hand clenched around hers as they looked down at it together.

“This is my fault,” she said.

“No, it’s not,” he said firmly. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. She was being vague to protect herself. So he’d come to her defense and make her feel better even though she knew full well she didn’t deserve it. “I was going to get it no matter what.”

She knew he was remembering when she had given it to him.

_It was a cold night in the Manor before Draco’s sixth year. They stood in the study surrounded by Death Eaters, the ritual circle already drawn around them. Then flames roared up around them and turned green like floo powder. She twirled her wand, her father’s wand, between her fingers while Draco rolled up his shirt sleeve. When his arm was bared, she ran her fingers over his smooth skin, leaving goosebumps in her wake._

_“This is going to hurt,” she whispered, not entirely sure he’d be able to hear her._

_“I know,” he replied, just as softly._

“This is not the mark of the Dark Lord,” she told him in a rush. He looked lost.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“It’s mine,” she said and her voice shook. “I gave you my mark instead.”

“You - What?” She watched him try to wrap his mind around the concept. Her fingers deftly traced the head of the snake, the only difference between his and the true Dark Mark. The head was more defined and tilted slightly to the right. At a glance, no one would ever be able to tell the difference. “That’s impossible.”

“Think, Draco. You were hardly ever summoned from it, and every time you were, I was there. Because _I_ summoned you. Not him. The only time you weren’t summoned was to the Forbidden Forest when Potter turned himself over. Why do you think that is? Why do you think you remained at the castle when every other Death Eater was called to retreat. Because I wasn’t there to call you.”

“If he had known he would have killed you,” he said after a moment.

“Without hesitation,” she agreed. It made her a threat, that she had started her own following. It would not have been tolerated. Draco was staring at his arm, at the mark he now knew to be hers. “I’m sorry, Draco. I’m so sorry.”

“You did this - to protect me?” He asked, looking up at her.

“I just - I thought if I tied you to me, instead of him, it’d be easier for you. You’d be safer. But now he’s dead. His mark will fade and mine won’t but people won’t be able to tell the difference. I’ve branded you forever. I wish I hadn’t done it. I - Say something. Please.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he mumbled. His gaze dropped back down to his arm, still in her lap. Then he brought his free hand up to knot in his hair. “I can’t think.”

Adelinde nodded. “I’ll leave you then. I’m sorry. I needed to tell you, though. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Her voice was embarrassingly hopeful and he heard it. He gave her a soft smile that seemed to hurt more than any anger he might have expressed. “Of course.” She nodded again and all but ran out.

She somehow managed to make it back to the dormitory without seeing anyone. She didn’t realize how late it was until she found the common room completely empty. Once upstairs she collapsed into bed with all of her clothes still on and tried not to think about all the stares and rumors and explanations she’d have to give tomorrow. She tried even harder not think about what might happen if Draco didn’t forgive her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next:
> 
> Lucius' Trial


	6. Lucius' Trial pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stop what?” She replied mercilessly. “Stop telling you the truth? You’re going to hear all these things in less than an hour in front of the Wizengamot, reporters, and people who came to see the show. If this is going to be your reaction maybe it is better that we did it here and now so you wouldn’t be an embarrassment to your family at the Ministry. Your father wants this taken care of quickly and quietly and you should respect his wishes. So do whatever you need to do, whether it be scream or cry or break more things and scare the shit out of Mimsy, get it out of your system now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trash at updating, don't mind me, I'll throw up like three more chapters then probably disappear again

The only reason Adelinde didn’t have detention the Saturday after the quidditch incident was because it was the day of Lucius Malfoy’s trial. She and Severus had hardly spoken at all during the week and she and Draco had been - off. He didn’t bring up the mark and neither did she but Daphne definitely noticed something was wrong. When she asked Adelinde if everything was alright, Adelinde told her truthfully that no, it wasn’t. But she didn’t elaborate and Daphne didn’t press. Blaise must have noticed as well, but if he said anything it was more than likely to Draco. 

In the early hours of the morning they convened in the Headmaster’s office to take the floo network first to the Manor, then to the Ministry. Draco had shown up at her door the night before. Neither of them said anything as she let him in and they crawled into bed. He’d tossed and turned all night and neither of them had gotten much sleep. 

Draco went to the Manor first, leaving Severus and Adelinde alone for the first time in a week. 

“How is he?” He asked. 

“Not good,” she told him. She thought of Lucius’ plea. “And he’s about to get worse.” 

“And how are you?” He asked. She looked over at him. He was genuinely concerned, she knew that, but she wasn’t concerned about herself today. 

“Fine,” she answered coldly. She grabbed a fistfull of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. “Malfoy Manor!”

When she stepped into the study, there was no one there. Severus appeared behind her moments later and when she glanced at him she saw her unease mirrored on his features. Then there was the crash they had both been waiting for. Narcissa had told Draco that his father planned to plead guilty. 

Adelinde and Severus set off toward the parlour where the crash had come from. The vase that was broken had already been cleaned up by Mimsy who was shaking as she picked up the last of the flowers. Mimsy belonged to Adelinde but she served the Malfoy House and while she never had been subject to any cruelty as per Adelinde’s orders, she was still very frightened of loud noises and shouting. 

“It’s _ for life _ ,” Draco shouted. Narcissa looked at him tearfully and nodded. Adelinde wondered if Andromeda had tried to contact her at all. She hoped she did. “He can’t do this! How could you let him do this!” 

Adelinde laid a hand atop Mimsy’s head in comfort and the house elf disappeared. Draco didn’t spare her or Severus as glance as they entered but Narcissa looked over his shoulder at them and Adelinde knew she wouldn’t be able to keep herself together much longer and they needed to present themselves in court soon. 

“Draco,” she laid a hand on his arm and he ripped away from her.

“Did you know?” He demanded. Adelinde looked at him coolly.

“I did,” she said and this was something she was not sorry to keep from him. Narcissa had asked her to do something and she had done it. 

“And you didn’t tell me?” He asked, clearly hurt but she also knew he was doing it on purpose to make her feel badly. 

“What good would it have done?” She returned. “You could have thrown your tantrum sooner? Nothing you say or do is going to change Lucius’ mind and even if you did it wouldn’t change the verdict. Your father was in the original circle of Death Eaters, he saw Voldemort’s rise, he was at the Department of Mysteries, he escaped from Azkaban, he conducted raids and killed muggles, he harbored Lord Voldemort, countless Death Eaters, and dark objects in his home - ”

“Stop,” he said and his voice shook.

“Stop what?” She replied mercilessly. “Stop telling you the truth? You’re going to hear all these things in less than an hour in front of the Wizengamot, reporters, and people who came to see the show. If this is going to be your reaction maybe it is better that we did it here and now so you wouldn’t be an embarrassment to your family at the Ministry. Your father wants this taken care of quickly and quietly and you should respect his wishes. So do whatever you need to do, whether it be scream or cry or break more things and scare the shit out of Mimsy, get it out of your system now.”

Draco gaped at her. Adelinde had delivered her tough love because she knew Narcissa wouldn’t, she’d always coddled him, and Severus wouldn’t see it as his place. So he politely excused himself and took Narcissa with him back to the study. Adelinde would wait until Draco told her to leave. 

“I don’t care,” he said suddenly.

“Of course you care - ”

“No,” he cut her off. He shifted. “About the mark. I don’t care that it’s yours.” 

She wanted to ask  _ are you sure _ ? Because she wasn’t sure he could be. Not now when he was dealing with the trial and his change of subject was so abrupt. He was probably just deflecting so she wouldn’t yell at him again. 

“I should have told you the morning after you told me,” he said. “I knew then. I just didn’t know how to bring it up. You did it to protect me and I don’t - I don’t think I can ever thank you for that.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that,” she said, voice quieter now. 

“You risked your life to protect me,” he said. “I do have to thank you.”

“You’re deflecting,” she accused. 

“I am,” he admitted. “But it’s true.”

“Draco - ”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Severus came back into the room. “But it is time to go.”

Adelinde looked back over at Draco and he had gone noticeably paler. He looked as though his feet were glued to the floor and he couldn’t move even if he wanted to. Adelinde held out her hand to him. After a long moment, he took it. 

At the Ministry, Severus strode out of one of the fireplaces in the main lobby first, followed by Narcissa, then Draco, with Adelinde last. None of them paused in their stride as they all walked with their heads held high straight into an elevator. Cameras flashed and people stopped and stared. Someone shouted something incoherent with the name  _ Malfoy _ tacked onto the end of it. Adelinde didn’t need to see Draco’s face to know that he was sneering. 

Adelinde was last in the elevator and she stood just inside the doors and when a reporter tried to shove his way in she held up a hand and he went stumbling backward with a strong gust of wind. 

“This one’s full,” she said. Then the doors shut and they shot backwards with so much force that Adelinde had to catch herself on the grate in front of her. 

“Where are we going?” Draco asked. 

“Courtroom Four,” Narcissa answered. her voice wavered only slightly and she cleared her throat. 

“That’s the big one,” Draco said and swallowed audibly. “Isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Severus answered. The door slid open to a completely empty hallway. Adelinde peered out curiously. Had they restricted access to one of the most high profile cases of the century? Adelinde didn’t think they would. The door at the opposite end of the hallway opened and through the crack big enough to fit two aurors, they could see the flashes of cameras and hear the shouting of reporters. The door closed and the hallway was quiet again. 

“Lovely,” Adelinde muttered as she led the way out of the elevator. The aurors met them halfway. Adelinde recognized one of them as Nymphadora Tonks. Her hair was a dark brown color with streaks of pink in it.

“Back to work so soon, Tonks?” Severus asks.

“Got called in today,” she said. “Mum’s watching Teddy.” 

Adelinde watched Narcissa out of the corner of her eye for any reaction at the mention of her sister but she was already wearing her mask in preparation for the trial. Draco wore an ugly sneer and Adelinde wished he wouldn’t. 

“This your daughter?” Tonks asked, nodding at Adelinde. 

“I am,” Adelinde replied, each word clipped, like they always were whenever spoke to someone else about her with her standing right there. No one said anything for a moment and Adelinde let the awkwardness settle over them. It was better than the tension emanating from the Malfoys. 

“You’ll have to be escorted in,” said the other auror, who Adelinde didn’t recognize. But she hadn’t met many aurors, either. Draco looked away from Tonks,  _ his cousin _ , and over at Adelinde. His expression softened, just the slightest amount. Adelinde held out her hand again and he took it without hesitation this time, lacing their fingers together and pulling Adelinde closer to his side. Severus offered Narcissa his arm and she took it, chin up. Tonks and the other auror led them inside.

Adelinde and Draco walked side by side behind Severus and Narcissa and them behind the aurors. All four kept their heads held high and gazes forward despite all the shouting and the blinding flashes. Draco’s hand tightened on hers. 

Trials were only made public after the war because so many people demanded to know what became of Death Eaters and even though the reporters were all there, everyone still harbored distrust for the papers after the propaganda they had helped to spread during the war. So there were three sections in the courtroom, one on the side for the reporters with their quills poised and ready in the air and photographers with their too bright flashes shouting ‘Over here! Look over here! Lady Malfoy! Draco!”. 

On the other side were seats for spectators, non media personnel. People who had been directly affected by the actions of the defendant were given priority on seats for the trial but the rest was first come first served. That section was eerily quiet but the disdain in the glares was enough as they all watched them come to sit in the front row in a cordoned off section. 

The front of the room was where the Wizengamot resided in their plum colored robes and silver lettering with their carefully blank faces. All fifty of them sat behind the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt at the stand where he resided as Chief Warlock until someone else could be appointed. 

In the middle of them all, on the teal tiled floor, was a chair. A chair where Lucius Malfoy would sit and be sentenced to life in Azkaban. Severus sat on the far end of the row and Adelinde on the other, leaving Narcissa and Draco between them both. True to Malfoy fashion, they sat up straight and were elegant and imposing. Adelinde pulled Draco’s hand into her lap and held it between both of hers. He squeezed her hand slightly but kept his gaze forward. 

Shacklebolt stood. Everyone quieted. “Let’s begin.”

“Witness number one out of forty-seven,” the door itself announced.

Witnesses would be brought in first to make their testimony in front of the Wizengamot then the defendant would be brought in to make a final closing argument. Adelinde wasn’t sure there would be witnesses since Lucius was pleading guilty. But the doors opened and in walked Harry Potter. 

Draco made a surprised noise, low in his throat and the reporters murmured amongst themselves but managed to keep quiet. Shacklebolt must have made it very clear to the reporters that once the trial began order would not be upended. Adelinde was still surprised they kept it together. Harry Potter, war hero, chosen one, and the top auror in his class had been a voluntary witness in not one, not two, but all three Malfoy trials. Potter looked older, even in the few months since Adelinde had met him in Diagon Alley. He strode in like he owned the place, strangely reminiscent of the Malfoy’s themselves, and sat in the chair.

“Please,” Shacklebolt started and his tone implied he knew full well how ridiculous he was about to sound, “state your name for the court.”

“Harry James Potter,” he said clearly. 

“And you’ve come as a witness to testify on Lucius Malfoy’s behalf?” He asked.

“Yes,” said Potter. 

“And why is Lucius Malfoy innocent of his crimes?”

“He isn’t,” Potter said. “I’ve come to ask for a lenient sentence. As I’ve come to understand it, Lucius Malfoy is to be sentenced to death today.”

“ _ What?”  _ Draco’s exclamation tears through the courtroom and Narcissa sits next to him in perfect stillness. In shock. They hadn’t been told about the death sentence. Apparently, neither had Severus if the furious look on his face said anything. Harry had looked over at them and his gaze flits over Adelinde. He looked angry and Adelinde knew then that the stories about him were true, he really was a golden boy, through and through. 

“Were the defendant’s family not made aware of his sentencing?” Potter asked coolly. His sounded like an auror and Adelinde briefly wondered if his training was actually over. 

“They most certainly were not,” Narcissa said with a cutting look at Shacklebolt. The reporters looked like Christmas had come early. 

“The sentencing today is in light of new information that has come to our attention,” he answered calmly. “If we may continue.”

“What new information?” Narcissa hisses at Severus.

“I do not know,” he answers slowly. 

Adelinde looked back at Potter. Today was not going to go according to plan. 

“Lucius Malfoy,” Potter started. “Is guilty of the crimes accused. But after all we’ve been through, after all of the lives we’ve lost, the mothers taken from children, brothers from sisters, and friends from friends, were going to keep killing people? We’re going to take another father from another son and call it justice? Should Lucius Malfoy walk free? No. Should he be allowed to live and see his son grow into a better man? Absolutely. Everyone was terrorized by Voldemort, even his followers and especially the Malfoy family who only wanted to protect their loved ones. They don’t deserve what happened to them and I don’t think many of us here would have done much different if you had to look the Dark Lord in the face and deny him.”

“He willingly followed He Who Must Not Be Named - “ someone started. 

“He’s dead.” Potter cut him off. “Call him by his name.”

The wizard swallowed and stuttered over the name, “Vold- demort. He chose to be a Death Eater.”

“Witnesses will not be questioned as to the motives of the defendant,” Shacklebolt cut them off. “They will be questioned on their account and their account only.” 

“I saw Lucius Malfoy in his manor the day Draco didn’t identify me, even though he could have,” Potter went on. “I saw the toll it took on him to harbor Voldemort in his home. To have his family in harm’s way every day. Not many people could have survived that and he did. But for what? Just to die by someone else’s hand? Is that the new and fair world we want to create?”

Potter’s question hung in the air. 

“Thank you, Mr. Potter,” Shacklebolt said at length. Potter nodded at Shacklebolt and stood then he stood and walked over to Draco. He held out a hand. Draco extracted his hand from Adelinde’s grip and stood to shake his hand. 

“Thank you,” Draco said. Potter nodded again. Then he left and Draco sank back into his seat. 

“Witness number two out of forty-seven,” the door announced. It was going to be a very long day.

*

After nearly all of the witnesses, the court was allotted time for a short break. The Malfoys, Severus, and Adelinde were led by the aurors to a private room with a small plate of snacks and other refreshments. Draco sat heavily in one of the chairs and put his head in his hands.

“Give us the room,” Severus said to Tonks. She glanced over all of them before nodding and waiting outside with her partner. Adelinde started toward Draco, to do what, she didn’t know. There wasn’t anything she could do to comfort him when his father was just hours away from being sentenced to death. She knew that Draco had a complicated relationship with his father but she also knew that he loved him. Potter was right, taking another father from another son wouldn’t help anything. But then Severus caught her eye.

Narcissa sat across from her son and waved her wand to lift the pitcher of water and have it pour into a glass. Adelinde and Severus had many years to perfect a wordless line of communication sitting across from one another at the Death Eater’s table. He looked at the door. She nodded once. 

Adelinde slipped her wand out of the sleeve of her dress and waved it over her head quickly and before either Malfoy could notice her. She cast a disillusionment charm and blended in to the area around her. Severus opened the door and the aurors stood at the other side.

“Are there any strudels?” He drawled.

“Strudels?” Tonks repeated dubiously. Adelinde slipped between her and the other auror slowly, as not to create a gust of wind and alert them to her presence. Then took off down the hall on her toes so her heels wouldn’t click.

She had to find that witness.


	7. Lucius' Trial pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You were on the tower that night,” he said. No preamble. She could respect that.
> 
> “I was,” she answered. They faced off on the teal tile of the men’s room floor. Potter didn’t move and Adelinde clasped her hands together in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see both of them in the mirror and the stalls behind her.

Adelinde came to a room designated for the Wizengamot. Very clearly marked and very clearly locked Adelinde found herself quite annoyed. She only had another fifteen minutes before she had to be back in the courtroom with everyone else and Draco had surely noticed she was gone by now.

 As far as she knew there were no charms for walking through a locked door without anyone on the other side noticing. And she had never tried to apparate with a disillusionment charm in place before. Her charms were quite strong and she knew she didn’t have to worry about it wearing off, but being torn off was a different story.

  
The door to courtroom four shouted out, “TEN MINUTES TO RECONVENE.” 

Adelinde grit her teeth and apparated.

She appeared on the other side of the door nearly in the lap of one of the witches, but still concealed. She breathed out a quiet sigh of relief before moving around the room. No one was talking and Adelinde didn’t know which witness had tipped the Wizengamot’s scales toward the death penalty.

“The last one’s the big one,” a couple of aurors were huddled in the corner, whispering to one another while they were supposed to be watching the witnesses. “Says he saw Malfoy murder a student at the battle of Hogwarts.”

Adelinde recoiled. Lucius was not a good man but he wouldn’t harm a _child_. He couldn’t. Not when he didn’t have a wand during the battle. He’d gone in unarmed to find Draco, not to hurt anyone. This was a blatant lie. But by who? Who had something to gain by killing Lucius Malfoy? A number of people, Adelinde supposed.

She walked slowly and quietly around the room and found each of the witnesses wearing a silver badge with a number on it. How delightfully convenient. Adelinde moved around the room until she found the wizard with the forty seventh badge. Getting him out of the room was going to be difficult. She defaulted to dark magic.

 _Imperio_ . She didn’t speak and her disillusionment charm carried with the spell. Her unforgivables were powerful, she already knew. She wouldn’t have to speak to get the witness to do what she wanted him to do. _Get up and go to the restroom._  

He did so without a word to any of the other witnesses and the aurors didn’t pay him any mind either. Adelinde thinks that they would have had they taken a closer look at his badge number. Adelinde slipped out the door behind him and followed him into the empty men’s room and locked the door. She revealed herself but he was so heavily under the imperius curse that he had no reaction.

“What’s your name, love?” She asked and hated how her voice sounded. Cold and detached and frightening. It happened without a second thought, falling back into the role of dutiful daughter.

“Louis Pendergast,” he answered dreamily.

“Tell me, Louis, what is it you’ve got against Lucius Malfoy?” She asked. “And be honest.”

“Nothing in particular,” he answered. Adelinde raised an eyebrow, bewildered.

“Then why are you lying and telling people he murdered a child?” She demanded.

“I was offered a load of money,” he said with a dreamy smile. Adelinde took in his threadbare clothes that were mismatched and he looked filthy, like he had a bath yesterday but it was the first one in years and hadn’t quite managed to get all of the grime.

“You’re a snatcher.”

“Yes,” he answered even though it wasn’t a question.

“Who offered you the money?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Useless,” she muttered. “You’re going to go into that courtroom and announce that you were bribed and the story you gave them is made up. Do you understand?”

“Yes."

“Good, now leave,” she said. He did after fumbling with the lock for a moment. The door swung shut then right open again when Harry Potter walked in. Adelinde was just as surprised to see him here as she was earlier. She’d assumed he’d left. He locked the door behind him. Adelinde raised a challenging eyebrow. Her wand was back in her sleeve but she could get to it, not that she really needed to.

“You were on the tower that night,” he said. No preamble. She could respect that.

“I was,” she answered. They faced off on the teal tile of the men’s room floor. Potter didn’t move and Adelinde clasped her hands together in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see both of them in the mirror and the stalls behind her.

“You saw me,” he said.

“I did,” she confirmed. She remembered that night so clearly. It was one of the last times she saw Draco before she was sent away.

_Adelinde ascended the steps behind Draco, slower. She took in everything as she passed, the marble tower, the ivory steps, the moonlight battlements. And the frail old man who was allegedly one of the most powerful wizards of all time. Her eyes passed over Harry, seeing him and ignoring him, and landed on Dumbledore who had been studying her as well. She was a contingency he did not expect. She felt him probe her mind. She pushed back._

_Her head cocked to the side at what she saw there. He wanted to die. He was ready for it and he wanted Severus to do it. But Draco had already uphended his plans. He had disarmed him before he had the chance to give up his wand. The elder wand belonged to Draco. Not that she was going to tell him. She let Dumbledore see that and he gazed at her curiously. She thought her secret safe with a dead man and showed him who she was._

_“Dear girl,” he murmured._

_“Spare me your pity,” she said. “And your fear.”_

_Then the door burst open again and Alecto led Carrow and Brumb up. “Young Lady,” they greeted her each with a short bow of the head._

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He asked.

“Why would I have?” She returned.

“Because you were one of them,” he said. “You all wanted to kill me or hand me over to Riddle so he could win.”

Adelinde reaches for her sleeve, her left sleeve, and pulls it up. Her skin is smooth and unblemished. “I’m not a Death Eater.”

“Then why were you there?”

“Because Draco was there,” she answered truthfully. She wasn’t going to let him go through that alone, especially since Lucius was barred from going and Narcissa had to tend to the house with Adelinde’s father still in it.

“You love him,” he said. Adelinde gaped at him before getting a hold of herself and closing her mouth. Of course she loved Draco, she’d known it all her life. But to have it thrown at her like an accusation put her off balance.

“I do,” she said. No use in lying. No point, really, either. She loved Draco and Draco loved her, that had never been the question. The question was, what were they going to do with it?

“How were you there?” He asked. This was something that was obviously still bothering him. Everything was over and he had an answer for everything except for who Adelinde was and why she was on the tower that night.

If Adelinde was being honest, with herself, it was because if Draco couldn’t kill Dumbledore, she was going to do it. She was going to become the rightful owner of the elder wand and use it to kill her father and his remaining horcurxes and probably every one of his followers, too. She’d hated him so much. For what he made her, for killing her mother, for torturing Draco and Narcissa, two people who loved her despite what she was. She’d wanted him dead her whole life. But the opportunity was thrown away when Draco disarmed Dumbledore first.

But no one else needed to know that.

“Vanishing cabinet,” she answered, deliberately obtuse.

“THE TRIAL OF LUCIUS MALFOY WILL RESUME IN ONE MINUTE.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said and brushed past Potter on her way out of the men’s room.

She walked briskly through the hallway back to the courtroom door. The others were already inside and Draco opened his mouth like he was going to ask her where she went but Shacklebolt called the meeting to order. Draco wrapped his hand around hers in her lap and looked forward.

Four more witnesses, one was Severus on Lucius’ behalf. Pleading, like Potter, for a lenient sentence rather than acquittal. He detailed some of the horrors Lucius had to go through, even some from the first rise of Voldemort. Effectively rendering the Wizengamot speechless and horrified.

Then came witness number forty seven. Draco tensed next to Adelinde when he walked in. For all intents and purposes he looked perfectly normal and no one here knew him well enough to know if anything was really off. He took the seat.

“State your name,” said Shacklebolt.

“Louis Pendergast,” he answered.

“And what account do you bring to the court today?”

“None.”

The crowd murmured for the first time and that was what unsettled Adelinde. She shifted in her seat and Draco held onto her tighter.

 “I beg your pardon?”

“It was made up,” Louis said. “The story about Malfoy. I was bribed to present it here, today. Paid for me own legal fees with it already. I’m a snatcher, you see. Really was at the battle of Hogwarts, though, and really did see Lucius Malfoy but he was just shouting DRACO DRACO, the whole time. Didn’t really look twice at anyone else. Then I was hit in the back of me head with a stunnin’ spell and don’t remember anything.”

Adelinde winced at the influx of honesty. It was a little more than she intended but it had gotten the job done. Draco’s hand tightened around Adelinde’s painfully and she had to wrap her other hand around his wrist just as tightly to get him to relieve the pressure. They exchanged a short glance while the Wizengamot talked amongst themselves for a moment. He knew. He didn’t know that Adelinde had only made him tell the truth. But he knew that she had done something. They dismissed Louis.

“THE DEFENDANT WILL NOW ENTER HIS ACCOUNT,” the door announced. It opened and Lucius Malfoy was led in with an auror on each side of him. Despite not having a wand he was still chained at the wrists and ankles and he wore the light gray robes of Azkaban. He eyes glossed right over Adelinde and landed on his wife and son, full of regret and relief.

The crowd behind them began to murmur again, a strangely quiet crowd up until the end, devoid of hecklers, unlike Narcissa’s trial. Adelinde turned toward Draco slightly, so her ear could pick up the conversations behind them and she missed what Lucius was saying. She didn’t really care, either, if she was being completely honest. He was pleading guilty, without Louis’ testimony he wouldn’t get the death sentence, and whatever he had to say would be reiterating everything the witnesses said before him.

“He… Pendergast screwed”

“Should we …”

“... next plan.”

Adelinde looked at Severus behind Draco and Narcissa. He turned his head slightly to listen as well but the whispers grew quieter and then died out altogether. Adelinde’s wand felt heavy on her inner arm. She knew Draco’s wand was in the right side of his jacket, for easy access with his left hand. She calculated the threat, four rows of seven people each behind them, assuming all of them to be antagonistic that was thirty five people for her to disarm. She’d never disarmed more than a dozen at once but she thought she might be able to pull it off.

She didn’t want Draco or Narcissa involved, it could look like they’d planned for this all along in an attempt to break Lucius out. .Which, Adelinde realized, could very well be the ‘next plan’. That would get all of them sent to Azkaban.

“Thank you, Mr. Malfoy,” said Shacklebolt. “Given the testimonies today and your plea. We’ve decided that a life sentence in Azkaban is your sentence. With visitation.”

Just as Draco’s shoulders sagged with relief, a bolt of green light zoomed over Adelinde’s head, aimed right for Lucius. Adelinde threw a hand out, instinct forgetting she was now in possession of a wand, and cast _protego_.

The shield was so strong that the spell ricocheted straight back to the caster and there was a thud when he dropped dead, swallowed by the commotion that followed. Draco shot to his feet and Adelinde stepped in front of him when he spun around with his wand drawn. He fired off a spell, just a stupefy, but it rebounded off of the shield that had grown and morphed to include the front pew as well. Adelinde and Draco ducked just in time to avoid it.

The noise outside grew and people were shouting and pointing and pulling their wands out.

“What’s going on?” Draco asked. Everyone seemed to be seeing right through them.

“It would seem Adelinde has overdone her protection spell,” Severus drawled. “And we are hidden from the room.”

“Tend to overdo things, don’t I?” she asked with a shrug. She pulled out her wand and took the extraneous enchantment down, leaving the shield up incase anyone had any ideas about throwing more curses around.

“Get them out of here!” Shacklebolt shouted at Tonks. She and the other auror were coralling them out the back door without a chance to say anything to Lucius. Draco looked back over his shoulder at his father but was promptly shoved forward and into Adelinde, sending them both tumbling into the wall.

Draco removed his shoulder from Adelinde’s sternum and leaned against the wall to the side of her. She raised the back of her hand to his chest and found his heart beating fast. Adelinde wondered why her’s wasn’t.

“That was exciting,” she said.

“You and I have different definitions of exciting,” Draco said.

“Shacklebolt says for the lot of you to return home,” said Tonks. “Or to Hogwarts. Lucius is safe and is being transported back to Azkaban.”

“And who is the wizard who tried to murder my husband?” Narcissa asked coolly.

“We’re working on identifying him, now,” Tonks told her. “We’ll update you when we know more.”

“Severus, take the children back to school,” she said. “I’ll wait here for news.”

Adelinde recognized the tone of a pissed off Narcissa. A true force to be reckoned with, like a tidal wave of ice water. Adelinde grabbed Draco’s arm.

“We’ll apparate,” she said and without waiting for permission apparated herself and Draco to the headmaster’s room at Hogwarts.

Draco pulled his arm from her grasp and faced her. “What did you do?”

“Apparated?” She asked.

“To the witness,” he clarified through clenched teeth

"Oh! I put him under the imperius curse - ” 

“ _Adelinde!_ ”

“To make him tell the truth!” She cried. “I didn’t make him say anything that was false. He admitted to me first that he was paid off to lie to get Lucius put to death and then I told him to tell that to the Wizengamot!” Severus popped into the room next with a dry look at Adelinde. “How’s Cissy?”

“Tonks will have her hands full for the foreseeable future,” he told them. “You two enjoy your Saturday night.”

“It’s night?” Adelinde looked out the window and found the sky was dark and they had indeed been at the ministry all day. “There goes my Saturday.”

“And your next three while you serve detention with me,” Severus added. Adelinde resisted the urge to groan and turned on her heel on strode out, Draco right behind her.

“Hey,” Draco said softly and caught her arm. She turned around and Draco pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. She sighed and sank into the embrace in the middle of the hallway. Adelinde buried her face in the shoulder of the boy she loved and let him hold her.

 


	8. Radical Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What are you thinking?” He asked and looked up at her.
> 
> “I’m thinking you should let me give you a haircut,” she said.

Adelinde sat in the common room with her friends late on a Tuesday night in November. _Her friends_ she wouldn’t tire of thinking of it. She had friends, friends that she’d known all her life like Draco and friends that she’d made herself like Luna. People to sit with at meals and during classes and even doing nothing.

She lounged on a leather sofa with Draco using her feet in his lap to hold up his book. Daphne was cleaning up at exploding snap with Theo and Blaise was trying very hard not to stare at Tracey who sat giggling around a fire with her friends.

“You’re staring,” said Draco without lifting his eyes from his book. It wasn’t for homework and for a moment she thought she should scold him since she knew he hadn’t done his potions essay yet. Instead she said;

“You’re pretty.”

He smirked down at his book. This flirting was familiar for them. She supposed in the past it was a little dangerous for the both of them and gave them a safe little thrill. But now it gave Adelinde another sort of thrill, not at all safe.

“What are you thinking?” He asked and looked up at her.

“I’m thinking you should let me give you a haircut,” she said. It was nearly to the bottoms of his ears now. She didn’t like it long.

“Absolutely not,” he said, snapping his book shut. She gaped at him. “The last time you cut my hair was a disaster.”

“I was _twelve_ ,” she exclaimed.

“You took shears to my head while I was asleep!” He fired back.

“It’s not my fault you wouldn’t roll over and I could only do the one side!” She said. Daphne burst out laughing and Theo and Blaise looked like they needed to see pictures immediately. “And it wasn’t like you walked around like that, Cissy fixed it!”

“After I was traumatised!”

“Oh, come on,” she said. “Let me cut your hair.”

“No.”

“Please?”

He tried to hold out, she could see, he really did. Then he sighed. “Fine.”

“Didn’t take long,” Daphne muttered to Theo who grinned in agreement.

Adelinde pulled sat on the back of the sofa and gestured for Draco to sit in front of her and between her legs. She pulled out her wand instead of finding some shears and leaned down to ask.

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life? Explicitly,” he said. “With my hair? Not at all.”

“Honestly,” she huffed.

“Just a trim,” he insisted.

“Fine,” she lied. “Just a trim.”

She knew a few hair spells from Cissy, especially the one for even sides. But she had other ideas for Draco who no longer liked to slick his hair back with Sleakeazy’s Hair Potion. Before he could even think of stopping her, she drew her wand in a straight line from his temple to the back of his head, shaving off the hair until it was short and soft.

“That felt like more than a trim!” He cried but Adelinde wouldn’t let him turn to see the hair that had fallen. Daphne, though, had covered her mouth in horror and was staring at the shorn side of Draco’ head. “Why does Daphne look like that?” He lifted a hand to feel his hair. “What-”

“Don’t!” Adelinde cried and caught his hand before he could feel it. She was struggling to hold back a laugh. “It’s not done.”

“What did you do?” He asked.

“Well there’s no going back now,” she said.

“Draco looks as though he might faint,” Blaise observed.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Adelinde huffed. She turned his head so she could get to the other side and sheared that side off from back to front in one smooth stroke of her wand. This time Draco could see the hair falling from the corner of his eye and his mouth fell open.

“Adelinde!”

“Draco!” She mimicked. He turned between her legs to glower at her which worked in her favor. She ran her fingers through the front of his hair, still long, and put her wand in his face. “Almost done. Hold still.”

Draco closed his eyes and let Adelinde trim the ends of his hair. “Now, look at me.” He opened his eyes and gazed up into her face while she combed his hair back from his face so it wouldn’t fall into his eyes anymore. She smiled.

“All finished,” she said. Draco stared at her a moment longer, expression unreadable.

“Someone conjure up a mirror,” he said, turning back around on the sofa. He didn’t move away from Adelinde, though. Blaise did the honors, conjuring up a full length mirror that floated in front of both Adelinde and Draco. He took in his new haircut with a wary expression.

“You look meaner,” Daphne said. “More intimidating. Which, I think, is Adelinde’s - ” She was cut off when Adelinde threw a pillow at her. Daphne grinned at her.

“Do you like it?” Adelinde asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Do you?”

“I did it, of course I like it,” she said. “But it’s not my hair.”

“If you like it, then that’s good enough for me,” he said and leaned back against her. He waived the mirror back to Blaise and picked up his book again. Adelinde ran her fingers through his hair again.

Blaise was staring at them but that wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary since Blaise observed most people. But then he asked,

“What happened at the trial?” Draco froze, eyes looking at the words on the page but not reading them. Adelinde looked up sharply at Blaise but he was looking at Draco. It had been a few weeks since the trial and only the verdict had been released after the incident at the end, the reporters were barred from publishing it. That didn’t stop people from talking, though.

Adelinde looked at Daphne who looked away quickly. She wanted to know, too. Of course she did, everyone did. Half the common room was trying very hard not to seem too obvious about listening in.

“Draco - ” she started to tell him he didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to. That she would tell them or if he didn’t want them to know at all, she wouldn’t. But he cut her off.

“Someone tried to kill my father,” he told them. The common room went completely silent. “After their ploy for a false testimony and a death sentence failed.”

“Do you know who did it?” Theo asked.

“No, no,” Daphne said. “Details first.”

“We should go to my room,” Adelinde said, glancing around the common room. She stood up on the couch and stepped down. Daphne rose and interlocked their arms as they started down the hall to the girls dormitories.

“Distracted?” She heard Blaise ask behind them, sounding distinctly smug. Adelinde turned just in time to see Draco shoving him into a wall with one hand but Blaise continued to grin.

“Uh,” Theo stopped at the edge of the hallway. “One problem. We can’t get in.”

Draco crossed the invisible barrier and raised an eyebrow at his friends just to be cheeky. Blaise frowned and tried to step forward but ran into the wall. Adelinde let go of Daphne to go back and help them.

Adelinde focused on the empty space between her and Blaise and found the threads of magic in the air, shimmering faintly silver, like a curtain. She reached out and gripped it and pulled it to the side.

“Come on, then,” she said. The boys looked at her funny before scurrying through. She let the barrier fall back into place.

It was darker in the hallway and Adelinde caught herself looking at Draco’s new haircut in the low light. It made his features look more defined, if it was even possible, and he looked almost regal. Adelinde patted herself on the back as they entered her room. It was the same size as a double but only had one bed.

Draco stood in the middle of the room while Daphne and Adelinde sat on the bed and Theo hopped up to sit on the desk and Blaise leaned against it. Draco glanced at Adelinde before beginning. She nodded.

“There was a late addition witness who claimed to have seen my father murder a student at the Battle of Hogwarts,” he said. “A fabricated story. Adelinde found out and stopped it.”

“Stopped it how?” Theo asked.

“I persuaded him to tell the truth,” she said. She didn’t want to admit to using an unforgivable. Draco had seen her do worse and would never judge her but her new friends? She didn’t want them to know that her default was dark magic and she had no qualms about using it. The hard look on her face conveyed her message not to pry further.

“When my father was brought in and sentenced to life with visitation, they fired a killing curse at him,” Draco went on.

“They who?” Theo asked.

“How did it not kill him?” Daphne asked. “Honestly, Theo. Learn to ask your questions in the appropriate order.”

“Adelinde managed to cast a _protego_ before it hit,” he said. He didn’t mention how her protego had expanded to cover the entire Malfoy family and concealed them from view of the Wizengamot temporarily.

“Am I allowed to ask who did it now?” Theo asked Daphne.

“Yeah, who did it? I’m dying to know.” Daphne asked Draco.

“We don’t know,” Draco said through clenched teeth. “Mother stayed and tried to find out but if the Ministry knows they’re not saying anything.”

“I heard there’s a radical group that thinks all former Death Eaters should be put to death for war crimes,” Daphne said.

“How do you know that?” Blaise asked her.

“My father,” she said. “He’s a member of the Wizengamot and told me I should distance myself from Draco.”

Draco had gone considerably pale. Adelinde stood from the bed and pushed him down to sit. He went easily, leaving his hands in his lap and staring at the floor. His right hand drifted to his left arm and Adelinde felt the backs of her eyes burn.

“What else does your father know about this radical group?” She asked with a steady voice.

“Not much,” Daphne said. “Only that Potter is frustrated he’s being kept out of the loop and but there’s not really a loop to begin with since they don’t really know anything about the radicals.”

“Adelinde,” Draco started and she heard the warning in his voice.

“I will not stand by and let this happen,” she said.

“Don’t,” he pleaded. “Don’t make this worse.”

“Apparently, things have to get worse before they get better,” she said.

“I don’t think you can get worse than killing more people,” Theo supplied.

Draco sent a pointed look at Adelinde and she knew it was because Adelinde _would_ make it worse by actually killing those radicals. The plan was already forming in her head. What Draco didn’t seem to understand yet is that he’s branded as a Death Eater. He was found innocent of his crimes, being under the influence of one of the most powerful wizards in history and merely a child, but the Dark Mark still marred his skin and it would never fade and these people would never stop trying to kill him and she wouldn’t allow that to happen.

She hadn’t allowed harm to come to Draco while her father was alive and she sure as hell wasn’t going to allow it now that he was dead.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are much appreciated:)


End file.
